Department of Health and Social Care

Cystic Fibrosis: Prescriptions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding cystic fibrosis to the list of medical conditions for which a medical exemption certificate for free NHS prescriptions may be issued.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Medical Records: Children

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of new-born children were give a digital NHS personal child health record in the last 12 months.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Medical Records: Children

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she expects every child to have a personal child health record.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Primary Health Care: Vacancies

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number of primary care vacancies for each of the last 12 months.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

General Practitioners: Bristol East

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of waiting times for GP surgeries in Bristol East constituency.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Databases

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to include all patient records held by GPs in the NHS federated data platform.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS Low Income Scheme

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications were made to the NHS low income scheme in 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

St Peter's Hospital Maldon

Sir John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients received intermediate inpatient care in St Peter's Hospital Maldon in each year since 2000.

Helen Whately: NHS England does not collect the data requested.

Palliative Care: Children

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will ask the Care Quality Commission to undertake an assessment of the quality of the commissioning of children's palliative care services by integrated care boards.

Helen Whately: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently completed the integrated care system (ICS) assessment pilots, which included an assessment of how health and social care provision is planned, coordinated, and delivered in a cohesive way.For the pilots, the CQC assessed data and local intelligence relating to the safety and effectiveness of different types of services across primary care, secondary care, and adult social care. This included hospices and other palliative and end of life care services. ICS assessments do not inspect individual services or focus on specific sectors. The CQC seeks information from local and regional CQC operations teams, NHS England, and professional regulators such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to identify areas of good practice and high-performing services, as well as risks and concerns relating to specific providers or sectors. The CQC looks at aggregate ratings of different types of services within a geographical area to identify areas of risk that might require a particular focus during assessments.The CQC’s ICS assessment methodology incorporates interviews and focus groups with commissioners, providers, patient representative groups, and voluntary and community sector organisations to understand how people experience care. Work continues to define the final methodology and approach, in line with the existing Departmental priorities.The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning, and I have met with NHS England officials personally on this matter on a number of occasions. We remain committed to improving patient access to, and quality of, palliative and end of life care, and are working with NHS England to achieve this.NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling integrated care boards (ICBs) to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue improving palliative and end of life care for their local population.

DNACPR Decisions

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department provides to ensure that patients' relatives are aware of their right to a second opinion when a doctor makes a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decision.

Maria Caulfield: Patient facing guidance setting out how the decision for a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) is made, and how individuals or their families can get support if they have concerns about a DNACPR, including second opinions and review, is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/do-not-attempt-cardiopulmonary-resuscitation-dnacpr-decisions/

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of evidence-based digital mental health innovations on reducing waiting lists for child and adolescent services.

Maria Caulfield: To date, there has been no assessment made to determine the potential impact of evidence-based digital mental health innovations on reducing waiting lists for child and adolescent services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has made recommendations on four products for self-help digital cogitative behavioural therapy technologies for children and young people with low mood or anxiety, through their Early Value Assessment process. Whilst there was no definitive determination on the impact to waiting lists, early evidence suggests that these types of interventions can improve access for patients and can supplement existing treatments whilst patients are waiting for further treatment.

Mental Health Services: Recruitment

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number and proportion of (a) counsellors and (b) adult psychotherapists in the mental health workforce.

Maria Caulfield: According to the NHS Electronic Staff Record, there was a 51% growth in the psychological professional workforce from April 2019 to March 2023. This compares to a 16% growth in the National Health Service’s workforce as a whole, over the same period. Counsellors and adult Psychotherapists are two specific occupations within the overall psychological professional workforce of approximately 27,800 full time equivalent staff.In order to grow the workforce with specific qualifications in counselling and adult psychotherapy, NHS England has commissioned a pilot training programme for Psychotherapeutic Counsellors. This provides a three-year salaried and funded postgraduate education pathway for trainee Psychotherapeutic Counsellors to work in the NHS Talking Therapies services for anxiety and depression, to deliver specified NHS Talking Therapies services for adults with depression. This NHS training route adds to other existing routes for Counsellors to enter and work in the NHS Talking Therapies workforce.

NHS: Facsimile Transmission

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of fax machines used in the NHS.

Andrew Stephenson: No data is collected in relation to the number of fax machines being used in the National Health Service.

Dental Services: Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for routine dental treatment.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England has advised that, since the inspection, the waiting time for a routine dental appointment at HM Wetherby Young Offenders Institute (HMYOI) has reduced from 15 weeks to 12 weeks, with all patients triaged to ensure all urgent or pain related cases are expedited appropriately. Orthodontist services are also available. Healthcare services continue to provide regular weekly dental clinics at HMYOI Wetherby, and non-attendance at appointments has reduced, with the involvement of an allocated healthcare officer. Work is also underway to re-procure dental healthcare services in secure children’s settings, which will further improve access and reduce waits.

Veterans: Mental Health Services

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many veterans are in receipt of specialist mental health support.

Maria Caulfield: From 1 April 2023, a new integrated Op COURAGE service has been operational. This new service has brought together the three previously separate mental health services for veterans into a single service, to make it easier for veterans to access the support they need, when they need it. Between April 2023 and December 2023, there were 5,084 referrals into Op COURAGE. Veterans can also choose to use Talking Therapies and other National Health Service mental health services, commissioned by NHS England. Between April 2023 and December 2023, there were 14,595 veteran referrals into Talking Therapies services.

Cardiovascular Diseases: Health Services

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps (a) her Department and (b) NHS England have taken to incentivise the integration of digital technologies into cardiovascular disease care pathways.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government’s commitment to develop a national digital service to support the NHS Health Check was announced in the Health Reform speech on 8 March 2022, and forms a part of the Department’s plan for digital health and social care. The vision is to increase the flexibility and reach of the NHS Health Check through the creation of an innovative, accessible national digital service, delivered alongside local face-to-face offerings, that helps people understand and take action when engaging with their cardiovascular health. Whilst there isn't any specific policy development surrounding integrating digital technologies into care pathways, NHS England has developed an information guide that will help clarify the commissioning pathway. This will encourage the adoption of digital health technologies into the National Health Service, including those in cardiovascular diseases.

Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with Integrated Care Boards in England on replacement programmes for radiotherapy machinery (LINACS); and what mechanisms are in place to allow her Department to oversee the effectiveness of those replacement programmes.

Andrew Stephenson: Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the National Health Service, from 2022 to 2025.The Government and NHS England are already taking steps to ensure that cancer patients can receive high quality radiotherapy treatment across England. This includes supporting advances in radiotherapy, using cutting-edge imaging and technology to help target radiation doses at cancer cells more precisely.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15459 on Diabetes: Medical Equipment, what the evidential basis is for growth in the prescribing of diabetes technology for people living with type 2 diabetes.

Andrew Stephenson: The National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) published a recommendation in March 2023 that people with type 2 diabetes, who have multiple daily insulin injections and a condition or disability that means they cannot use capillary blood glucose monitoring, should be offered Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology, either real time or intermittent, to support self-monitoring. The NICE also recommended in March 2023 that adults with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes having their blood glucose monitored by a care worker or healthcare professional, are offered CGM. The rationale is that CGM can help to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes who use insulin.

Cancer: Screening

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her expected timescale is for the availability of the Galleri blood test in cancer testing and diagnosis across the NHS.

Andrew Stephenson: The NHS-Galleri trial is looking into the use of a new blood test to see if it can help the National Health Service to detect cancer early, when used alongside existing cancer screening. The trial recruited the target of 140,000 participants, and interim results are expected in spring or summer 2024.If the trial is successful, the NHS has committed to rolling out up to one million Galleri tests in 2024 and 2025, as part of an interim implementation pilot. The clinical trial is currently planned to conclude in 2025, with results expected in 2026.Should the final results be positive, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) may consider the use of the test in a national screening programme. A UK NSC-recommended national screening programme would need to consider the effectiveness of the test, balancing the risk of false positives and unnecessary invasive treatments, against potential early detection.

Mermaids: Finance

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department provided funding to the charity Mermaids UK in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department provided no funding to the charity Mermaids in 2021, 2022 or 2023.

Health Services: Attendance

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15620 on Health Services: Postal Services, whether his Department collects information on the reasons for missed NHS appointments.

Andrew Stephenson: Rates of missed appointments, and their causes, can vary substantially between providers and local areas. NHS England has developed a range of resources to support trusts in understanding the causes of missed appointments within their organisation, and to take effective action to reduce Did Not Attend rates.

HIV Infection: Screening

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage people to be tested for HIV.

Andrea Leadsom: The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing.As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £4.5 million from 2021 to 2025 to deliver the HIV Prevention Programme, a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities, in areas of high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission. The programme also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities through the delivery of public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, and evidence-based HIV prevention interventions in partnership with local organisations and charities. During National HIV Testing Week this year, we dispatched over 24,000 kits.As an additional part of the HIV Action Plan, NHS England has expanded opt-out HIV testing in 34 emergency departments in local areas in England with extremely high HIV prevalence and the whole of London, including some areas with high HIV prevalence. This programme began in 2022 and is funded by NHS England, with £20 million until the end of March 2025. In the first 21 months, the programme has preliminarily identified 685 people newly diagnosed with HIV, and 384 people previously diagnosed with HIV but not in care.Given the success of the programme, the Department has committed an additional £20 million for new research, which will involve an expansion and evaluation of opt-out blood borne virus testing, including for HIV, in 47 additional emergency departments in local areas with high HIV prevalence across England. Funding will support 12 months of testing for each emergency department, to begin in April 2024, although it is at the discretion of individual sites when the testing will commence.

Home Office

Visas: Ukraine

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people on Ukraine visa schemes did not have visas automatically extended.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has had discussions with the Ukrainian community on changes to Ukraine visa schemes.

Tom Pursglove: Although given consideration, it is not feasible to extend Ukraine scheme visas automatically. Automatic extension would require Ukrainians to confirm their residence in the UK and their willingness to have a visa extended, and so the possible customer benefits, and savings in process time, would be limited. Without requiring a registration process there would be a risk of not being able to contact all the eligible individuals which could lead to some Ukrainians being left without legal status.The Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have had numerous discussions with the Ukrainian community, and there is currently an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement in place.

Visas: Ukraine

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely processing of Ukraine Extension Scheme applications.

Tom Pursglove: Applications made under the Ukraine Extension Scheme are not subject to a Customer Service Standard and therefore are processed as soon as possible. The Ukraine Extension Scheme route will close in May 2024.

Asylum: Children

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the needs of an unaccompanied minor placed in the care of a local authority; and what assessment his Department has made of the ability of local authorities to meet those needs.

Tom Pursglove: Local authorities have a statutory duty under S20 of the Children Act 1989 to look after children in need in their area. This includes unaccompanied asylum seeking (UAS) children who either arrive in a local authority area or are transferred there under the mandated National Transfer Scheme. The National Transfer Scheme provides a mechanism for the statutory responsibility for an UAS child to be transferred from an entry local authority to another local authority in the UK for ongoing care and support.The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authorities as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).When a child is being looked after by a local authority, that local authority is under a duty to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare under the Children Act 1989.

Asylum: Children

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of the cost of caring for an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker with special needs who has been placed in the care of a local authority is paid for by his Department.

Tom Pursglove: In addition to money for children's social care that local authorities receive through the Local Government Finance Settlement and finance arrangements which apply to the Devolved Administrations, the Home Office provides additional funding contributions to the costs incurred by local government in looking after unaccompanied asylum seeking (UAS) children and former UAS childcare leavers.Local authorities supporting the greatest number of UAS children relative to their child population receive the higher rate of £143 per child per night for each UAS child.  This higher rate applies to local authorities supporting UAS children totalling 0.07% or greater of their general child population.  All other local authorities receive £114 per person per night for each UAS child in their care.   In addition, any local authority who accept the responsibility for a UAS child from a higher rate receiving local authority will receive the higher rate of £143 per child per night. This funding is not ring-fenced, and local authorities are free to use this funding as they see fit to support children in their care.

Overseas Students: NHS

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of international students who go on to work in the NHS after studying in the UK.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people starting a journey each year broken down by immigration route (e.g. study) and how many extend into other categories (e.g. work) following their initial leave. The statistics do not show which sectors people were employed in. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022.

Human Trafficking and Sexual Offences: Women

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Minister for Justice on tackling female (a) trafficking, (b) exploitation and (c) sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland.

Laura Farris: Criminal justice is devolved in Northern Ireland, with responsibility for the policy and legislative response to modern slavery resting with the Northern Ireland Executive. However, we recognise that trafficking can involve the movement of vulnerable individuals across borders, and we work closely with our partners in the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that our response to modern slavery across the UK is joined-up and the legislation is complementary.This includes, at official level, regular engagement with representatives from the Devolved Administrations, through quarterly meetings and the Modern Slavery Engagement Forums. These Forums focus on key policy areas, including enforcement, prevention, adult victim support, and child and victim support policy. Officials also engage in quarterly meetings with representatives on commercial sexual exploitation.The Home Office also engages with First Responder Organisations, across the whole of the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland this includes the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Health and Social Care trusts and Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid. First Responders are trained by their respective organisations to identify indicators of modern slavery and refer potential victims into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). In 2023, there were 462 NRM referrals sent to the PSNI for investigation, accounting for 3% of all referrals received, as published in the National Referral Mechanism statistics on GOV.UK.

Offences against Children

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of serious child abuse offences committed in the last 12 months.

Laura Farris: The term child abuse covers a broad range of offences including, but not limited to, sexual offences, violence against the person and cruelty and neglect. It is not possible to identify all child abuse offences recorded in official data.In January 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published experimental analysis which looked at a range of indicators from different data sources to enable understanding of child abuse. This report can be found here:Child abuse in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).As the Home Secretary stated in his written statement of 10 January 2024, we are working with the ONS to explore whether a new survey could more effectively measure the current scale and nature of child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse. The ONS is currently developing the questionnaire and safeguarding procedures for the proposed survey, which will then be piloted.

Crime: Hampshire

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce crime in Hampshire.

Chris Philp: This Government is committed to cutting crime, keeping our streets safe, and restoring confidence in the criminal justice system. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are responsible for policing in their area and are focused on the local priorities for policing, to help cut crime. The Government is funding a range of initiatives in Hampshire to reduce crime. This includes the Safer Streets Fund, the Government’s flagship crime prevention programme, where Hampshire has received over £4 million of investment. Hampshire has received almost £1.5 million for 2024/2025 to increase uniformed police hotspot response, and since 2019 the Home Office has invested over £5.1m to develop and run the Hampshire Violence Reduction Unit. These initiatives are in addition to the investment we have made available to increase officer numbers. Hampshire and Isle of Wight recruited 582 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 518 officers. As at 30 September 2023, there were 3,422 police officers in Hampshire and Isle of Wight, a total growth of 631 additional officers against the baseline (2,791) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme. Hampshire Police’s funding will be up to 464.2 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to 29.2 million when compared to 2023/24.

Detention Centres: Dunkirk

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his French counterparts on the construction of a new detention centre near Dunkirk.

Michael Tomlinson: The Home Secretary has regular contact with his French counterpart, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. They most recently met in January where they discussed our ongoing cooperation to stop small boat crossings, which last year saw a 36% reduction in small boat arrivals compared to 2022.The new detention centre is part of the agreement reached by the Prime Minister and President Macron in March 2023. This detention centre, once operational, will allow France to more effectively return migrants to their home countries or safe third countries.

Home Office: Domestic Visits

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.

Chris Philp: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (vias, accommodation, meals).But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing minimum unit pricing for alcohol; and what other steps he is taking to help reduce alcohol harm.

Chris Philp: The Government continues to watch the impact of MUP in Scotland with interest.In England and Wales there is an ambitious programme of work in train to tackle alcohol-related harms including significant investment in treatment and recovery services, equipping the police and local authorities with the right powers to take effective actions against alcohol related-crime and harms in the night-time economy.The Government has delivered on its commitment to review the outdated and complex alcohol duty system and introduced the biggest reform of alcohol duties for 140 years. From 1 August 2023, all alcohol has been taxed by strength, putting public health at the heart of alcohol duty.This is helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty. This new system is incentivising the production and consumption of lower strength products by introducing a reduced rate of duty for products of a lower alcohol by volume (ABV).

Department for Education

Extracurricular Activities

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support local partnerships between schools and youth organisations to support educational enrichment work in schools.

Damian Hinds: Enrichment programmes encompass a wide range of activities, including sports, art, drama, outdoor experiences, debating, volunteering, business, tech or cooking. These activities can have a significant positive impact on young people, including on their academic progress and wellbeing and the department is committed to ensuring young people have access to high quality extra curricular opportunities.Schools are best placed to understand and meet the specific needs of their pupils, and have flexibility to decide what range of extra curricular activities to offer. However, the department does support a range of initiatives to expand access to high quality extra curricular activities through schools, such as working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to offer the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to all state secondary schools in England.The Shared Outcomes Fund was originally set up in 2019 to incentivise departments to work collaboratively across challenging policy areas to deliver better value for citizens. In the Third Round of HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was were awarded a total of £3.4 million for the delivery of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP), more information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shared-outcomes-fund-round-three. The EPP aims to improve the enrichment offer of up to 200 secondary schools in Education Investment Areas, testing whether greater coordination locally can enhance school enrichment offers, develop local partnerships and promote greater collaboration between schools on extra curricular activities.The government has also invested £289 million to support the expansion of wraparound childcare for primary school children in England. Schools’ enrichment and extra curricular offers may interact with, complement and support the delivery of wraparound childcare provision. The department is supporting and encouraging schools to continue to offer enrichment and extra curricular activities and to consider how these activities can be delivered in a way that supports working parents. This may include working with local private providers who can support schools to deliver activities in a regular and reliable way.

Education: Exports

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) promote and (b) protect the UK's education exports.

Robert Halfon: I refer the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk to the answer of 13 March to Question 17127.

Schools: Concrete

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of RAAC-related disruption on exam preparations for students in years 11 and 13.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in years 11 and 13 are studying at (a) schools and (b) colleges affected by reinforced autoclave aerated concrete.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that students studying for (a) GCSEs, (b) A-levels and (c) VTQs are not held back by disruption to their learning caused by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Damian Hinds: Thanks to the hard work of school and college leaders, all schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. The department is supporting schools and colleges to keep any disruption to education to an absolute minimum.The government is funding the removal of RAAC present in school and colleges either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme. A list of education settings with confirmed RAAC and the funding route to permanently remove RAAC was published on 8 February 2024, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. Every school or college with confirmed RAAC has been assigned dedicated support from caseworkers and project delivery teams are also on hand to support with implementing mitigation plans.Every case is unique and the impact on schools and colleges can be highly varied, including for students in years 11 and 13. Departmental officials work with schools and colleges to put in place a bespoke plan based on their circumstances. In some cases, there is no impact on teaching space, or it is limited to small areas. For others, mitigation plans can include using other spaces on the school site or locally until building works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed.Alongside Ofqual, the department has worked with examination awarding organisations to facilitate discussions with affected schools. Awarding organisations have agreed to be as flexible as possible within the constraints of their regulations and processes, for example by agreeing longer extensions for coursework and non-examination assessments where needed so that pupils have as much time as possible to complete these tasks.

Schools: Concrete

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) pupils and (b) schools that have been unable to take part in national tests due to disruption caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the last 12 months.

Damian Hinds: Thanks to the hard work of school and college leaders, all schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. The department is supporting schools and colleges to keep any disruption to education to an absolute minimum.Every case is unique and the impact on schools and colleges can be highly varied. Departmental officials work with schools and colleges to put in place a bespoke plan based on their circumstances. In some cases, there is no impact on teaching space, or it is limited to small areas. For others, mitigation plans can include using other spaces on the school site or locally until building works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed. Where some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to teaching. From the department’s experience to date, where remote teaching was used for a period, the typical time out of school was a matter of days.As of 20 February 2024, 2 primary schools in England were exempted from participation in one or more statutory primary assessments in the last 12 months due to areas with confirmed RAAC being taken out of use. Across the 2 schools, this impacted 355 pupils across the relevant year groups.

St Leonard's Catholic School

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of Durham University's research entitled A report on the impact of RAAC closure on the exam cohorts of St Leonard’s Catholic School, County Durham, published on 31 December 2023.

Damian Hinds: ​Thanks to the hard work of school and college leaders, all schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. The department is supporting schools and colleges, including St Leonard’s Catholic School, to keep any disruption to education to an absolute minimum. Every case is unique and the impact on schools is highly varied. For example, in some cases there is no impact on teaching space, or it is limited to small areas. In some cases, RAAC may be limited to a single classroom.Exams and assessments must demonstrate what a student knows, understands and can do, rather than what a student might have known, understood or been able to do should circumstances have been different. In order to maintain qualification standards and public confidence in qualifications, all students taking GCSEs and A levels are assessed to the same standard. If different standards are applied for different groups of students, then the qualification will cease to provide a reliable indication of the knowledge, skills and understanding that it is intended to measure.Alongside Ofqual, the department has worked with examination awarding organisations to facilitate discussions with affected schools. The department has asked awarding organisations to, where possible, agree longer extensions for coursework and non-examined assessment so that pupils have as much time as possible to complete these tasks.

Students: Assessments

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with (a) AQA, (b) OCR, (c) Edexcel and (d) Pearson on adaptations for students studying for (i) GCSEs, (ii) A-levels and (iii) VTQs who have had their learning disrupted by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Damian Hinds: It is not possible to address the differential impact of disruption to teaching and learning by making changes to exams and assessments for some students or groups of students. Exams and assessments must demonstrate what a student knows, understands and can do in respect of particular qualification specifications, rather than what a student might have known, understood or been able to do should circumstances have been different.Departmental officials are, however, working closely with affected schools to ensure the best possible education for students and are taking every step possible to remove any obstacles to learning through mitigations. This includes temporary accommodation where needed and in some instances the use of specialist facilities in off-site accommodation. Any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC will receive support according to their specific circumstances.The department has also asked awarding organisations to be as flexible as possible within the confines of their processes and regulations, for example by agreeing longer extensions to coursework and non-exam assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges.

Schools: Buildings

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to allow for mitigating circumstances for pupils whose education has been disrupted due to the presence of RAAC.

Damian Hinds: Ofqual is the independent regulator of examinations and qualifications in England, and its statutory objectives are set out in Section 128 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. These include securing that ’regulated qualifications give a reliable indication of knowledge, skills and understanding’, and that ’regulated qualifications indicate a consistent level of attainment (including over time) between comparable regulated qualifications’.It is important to ensure that all students taking comparable exams and assessments are assessed to the same standard in order to maintain qualification standards and public confidence in qualifications. If different standards are applied for different groups of students, then the qualification will cease to provide a reliable indication of the knowledge, skills and understanding that it is intended to measure.

Students: Loans

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the maximum value of a student maintenance loan (a) was in 2018 and (b) is as of 4 March 2024; and if she will make an estimate of the real-term change in that value since 2018.

Robert Halfon: The maximum maintenance loan for an undergraduate student living away from parents outside London in the 2023/24 academic year is £9,978. The equivalent maximum maintenance loan was £8,430 in the 2017/18 academic year. This is a 13.9% reduction in the real-terms value of the maximum loan. This figure has been derived by using the Retail Price Index (RPIX) measure of inflation, applied at Quarter 1 in each academic year throughout this time period, as published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in November 2023, which can be found here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2023/.The government has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year. Maximum support has been increased by 2.8% for the 2023/24 academic year with a further 2.5% increase announced for 2024/25.The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. The department has already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students.The department is now making a further £10 million of one off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.Over the period between 2022/23 to 2024/25, the government will have provided support worth £104 billion to help families throughout the UK with the cost of living including to meet increased household energy costs. This is an average of £3,700 per household. This will have eased some of the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enable many families to provide additional support to their children in higher education to help them meet increased living costs.The department has also frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.25(3) of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, how local authorities can apply for funding for additional special school places.

Damian Hinds: The Spring Budget confirmed plans for 15 additional special free schools. An announcement on the location of these schools will be made by May 2024.The department has received a large number of high quality applications from local authorities through the most recent special free schools application round. Funding available at the time allowed us to approve 33 new special free schools, in March 2023.The Spring Budget announcement means that the department can now go further, by considering high quality applications that the department was not able to approve at the time. This means that the department does not currently plan to invite new local authority applications.

Department for Education: Fraud and Maladministration

Pat McFadden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by her Department in each of the last three financial years.

Damian Hinds: The government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. The government established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.The PSFA produces a ‘Fraud Landscape Report’ This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022. .Information regarding the department’s detected fraud and error can be found in the department’s Annual Reports and Accounts which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.

Artificial Intelligence: Apprentices

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of apprenticeships undertaken in artificial intelligence related positions in the last 12 months.

Robert Halfon: There were 350 starts on the level 7 Artificial Intelligence Data Specialist standard in the 2022/23 academic year. Data for 2023/24 has not yet been finalised as we are part way through the academic year. Other apprenticeships may also contain elements relating to artificial intelligence.

Academies: Sports

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15463 on Academies: Sports, if she will publish a list of academy trusts where consent was granted by her Department of freehold sale of publicly funded land which were not subject to conditions specifying that capital receipt should be reinvested in improving sports provision.

Damian Hinds: The department’s general policy is that the freehold sale of playing field land requires improvement to playing field in the educational estate by reinvesting capital receipt in sporting provision. Capital receipt from the sale of non-playing field land can be used for other benefits to the education estate, such as capital projects, save for any exceptional circumstances.The department currently publishes a list of all playing field land disposals considered by the School Playing Field Advisory Panel since 2010, including freehold disposals, which is available on GOV.UK. This list is currently being updated for the period May to December 2023. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals/decisions-on-the-disposal-of-school-land.

Department for Education: Advertising

Pat McFadden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department and has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Damian Hinds: The department provides details of the funding spent on advertising and publicity as part of its annual reports and accounts, which are published in the usual way on GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63a025c5e90e07587bd8ba57/DfE_consolidated_annual_report_and_accounts_2021_to_2022_accessible.pdf.The department uses marketing to support the delivery of strategic aims and government priorities, including to recruit teachers, reform the skills landscape, and drive take up of products and services like apprenticeships, T Levels and childcare entitlements. Since 2010, there are now 27,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools across the country, 5.4 million apprenticeship starts and the department is delivering the largest ever expansion of free childcare in England. Spend includes different types of marketing activity, including advertising. Figures for the last three financial years are:Financial YearTotal Department Spend on Marketing2020/21£20 million2021/22£26 million2022/23£40 million The department does not hold complete records of budget profiles for marketing and communications compared to final confirmed spending.

Department for Education: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which unit in her Department is responsible for equalities.

Damian Hinds: Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. The Human Resources and Transformation Directorate is responsible for equalities in the Department for Education. The department also has a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team who can provide colleagues with advice on equalities-related issues. Under the PSED, all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers. The Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.

Higher Education: China

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and (b) representatives of higher education institutions on the potential impact of such institutions' collaboration with Chinese higher education bodies linked to the People's Liberation Army on national security.

Robert Halfon: The government takes the risk of foreign interference in our higher education (HE) sector extremely seriously, regardless of its source. The department has made it clear that it will not accept collaborations that compromise national security. The department recognises concerns about interference in the HE sector and regularly assesses the risks facing academia, working with partners across government. The department will continue to take steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our HE sector, helping to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research.The ‘Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023’ will ensure that universities in England have the tools they need to deal with interference with, and threats to, freedom of speech and academic freedom. The Act will enable the Office for Students to monitor the overseas funding of registered HE providers and their constituent institutions and student unions, and to take appropriate action.The department expects Confucius Institutes at UK universities to operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to the government's values of openness and freedom of expression. The department has taken action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK.The ‘Integrated Review Refresh’, published in 2023, committed to launching a review of legislative and other measures designed to protect the academic sector, to identify what more the government could or should be doing. This is currently underway and is led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This will include an assessment of the risks to research security as a result of collaboration with international bodies.The department also works with the sector to improve HE providers’ overall resilience and economic security. The department has encouraged Universities UK to publish a number of guidelines and case studies to enable HE providers to assess risks associated with international collaboration.

Postgraduate Education: Childcare

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of childcare provision for PhD researchers.

David Johnston: 30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds. The entitlement aims to help with the costs of childcare so that parents can take up paid work if they want to or work additional hours. The ‘Childcare Bill policy statement’, published in December 2015, is clear that students are not eligible for 30 hours free childcare. The department recognises the value of parents continuing in education, however, and provide a range of support other than 30 hours for those in further or higher education. Students are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all 3 and 4 year olds regardless of family circumstances. Students who work in addition to studying are eligible for 30 hours free childcare if they meet the income requirements.

Overseas Students

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress she has made with Cabinet colleagues on implementing the International Education Strategy.

Robert Halfon: I refer the right hon. Member for East Antrim to the answer of 7 March 2024 to Question 16186.

Overseas Students

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the income to the public purse from international students in each of the last three years.

Robert Halfon: The department does not collect or estimate the impact of international students to the exchequer. International tuition fee income at higher education (HE) providers can be found on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income.The benefits and costs of international HE students to the UK economy and the Exchequer can be found in the Higher Education Policy Institute/Universities UK International/Kaplan report at: https://hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Full-Report-Benefits-and-costs-of-international-students.pdf.The total net impact on the UK economy of the cohort of first year international students enrolled at UK HE Institutions in the 2021/22 academic year was estimated at £37.4 billion across the duration of their studies. The economic impact is spread across the entire UK, with international students making a £58 million net economic contribution to the UK economy per parliamentary constituency across the duration of their studies. This is equivalent to £560 per member of the resident population.

Nurseries: North Yorkshire

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent estimate of the cost of nursery places in (a) North Yorkshire County and (b) the City of York.

David Johnston: The department’s Childcare and early years provider survey 2023 showed that the mean hourly rates for the cost of nursery places in North Yorkshire and the City of York were as follows: North Yorkshire: 2 year olds:£5.55City of York: 2 year olds:£5.20 North Yorkshire: 3 to 4 year olds:£5.26City of York: 3 to 4 year olds:£5.26 The department does not currently collate data broken down at this level for under 2s. The mean hourly rate for under 2s for Yorkshire and the Humber was £5.15.

Special Educational Needs

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, what progress she has made on developing digital requirements for Education, Health and Care Plans.

David Johnston: The department is working with local authorities and suppliers to deliver a digital project to digitise the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process for England. The department started this project in summer 2023 to understand what role digitisation should play in the EHC plan process, and the potential longer-term benefits of digital solutions. The department launched a second project phase in October 2023. This helped the department to understand the benefits, barriers, and limitations of the digitisation of the EHC plan process. This phase resulted in recommendations. The department launched a third project phase in February 2024 to test the recommendations, which are due to be shared with local authorities and the wider sector this month.

Education: Exports

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to (a) promote and (b) support education exports.

Robert Halfon: The department has taken a number of steps to promote and support education exports, including the launch of the UK’s International Education Strategy in 2019. The strategy outlined the department’s ambition to increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year by 2030. The department is on track and continues working towards meeting this ambition with £25.6 billion revenue in 2020.The department will continue to support education exports by hosting the Education Sector Advisory Group, bringing together industry and government to achieve its export ambitions. The UK’s International Education Champion, Professor Sir Steve Smith, has promoted UK education export growth in key markets, addressing barriers and creating opportunities for education exporters across the UK’s education sector.

Children in Care and Foster Care

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children who were looked-after in a (a) relative and (b) friend foster placement in each local authority in the 2022-23 financial year.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children by (a) age, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity who were looked-after in a (i) relative and (ii) friend foster placement in the 2022-23 financial year.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the looked-after children who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement on 31 March 2023 had also been in (a) an unrelated foster placement, (b) another relative or friend placement, (c) a children's home and (d) other provision for looked-after children.

David Johnston: The latest figures on children looked after who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement by age, gender and ethnicity and at local authority level are shown in the attached tables. The department does not hold the data broken down separately into relative foster placements and friend foster placements, therefore the combined totals have been provided. Data has been provided for children looked after between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023. Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.15600_15601_15602_Attachment (xlsx, 38.6KB)

Art and Design and
Performing Arts: GCSE

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer GCSEs in (i) art and design, (ii) dance, (iii) drama, (iv) music, (v) film studies and (vi) media studies in the next five years.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for GCSE level (a) art and design, (b) dance, (c) drama, (d) music, (e) film studies and (f) media studies in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) the South East and (iv) England.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for A-level (a) art and design, (b) dance, (c) drama, (d) music, (e) film studies and (f) media studies in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) the South East and (iv) England.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer A-levels in (i) art and design, (ii) dance, (iii) drama, (iv) music, (v) film studies and (vi) media studies in the next five years.

Damian Hinds: The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.The requirement on all state-funded schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum encompasses the arts. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich national curriculum. This is also reflected in the reformed GCSEs and A levels in art and design, dance, drama, music, film studies and media studies which were introduced for first teaching from 2015 for A levels and from 2016 for GCSEs. The government also introduced parallel reforms to Technical Awards at level 2 to ensure these were high-quality and fit-for-purpose.Examining recent trends over the past five years, between 2019 and 2023, around half of pupils at Key Stage 4 have taken at least one approved arts qualification, which includes GCSEs set out above and Technical Awards.The department has committed over £714 million of funding between 2016 and 2022 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high quality education in music and arts. Over and above school core funding, the department will continue to invest around £115 million per year in cultural education up to 2025.

Languages: GCSE

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for GCSE level modern foreign languages in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake in A-Levels in modern foreign languages in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer A-Levels in modern foreign languages in the next five years.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of schools that will offer GCSE qualifications in modern foreign languages in each of the next five years in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.

Damian Hinds: The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will commission research on why children are not in school.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of how many children not in school have been exploited.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to measure (a) the mental wellbeing of children who are not in school and (b) changes in their wellbeing.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues on how regularly a child not in school should be contacted by the (a) school and (b) local authority to (i) help ensure their safety and (ii) check on their wellbeing.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children not in school reach the same level of attainment as children in school.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with local authorities to ensure that all children not in school are supervised daily through a virtual hub.

Damian Hinds: Ensuring that children are in school is a top priority for the government. The department routinely collects daily absence data to understand the causes for absence. The latest data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.The data is one part of the department’s comprehensive national attendance strategy to ensure that every child registered at school attends every day. The strategy contains stronger expectations of schools, trusts and local authorities to work together to tackle absence as set out in guidance that will become statutory in August 2024. It also includes an attendance data tool allowing early identification and intervention of pupils at risk of persistent absence. Participation in this data tool will become mandatory from September 2024.As a further part of the strategy, 10 Attendance Advisers will support local authorities and trusts, expanding the department’s attendance mentor pilot from 5 to 15 areas from September 2024, backed by an additional £15 million and reaching 10,000 children. This will double the number of lead attendance hubs, bringing the total to 32, supporting nearly 2,000 schools to tackle persistent absence.Alongside these measures, the department is supporting schools in promoting good mental health in children. Key steps include making grants available to all state schools to train a Senior Mental Health lead to embed a whole school approach to mental health, and further rollout of Mental Health Support Teams to reach 50% of children by April 2025.These measures are making a difference, in 2022/23 380,000 fewer children were persistently absent or not attending in than in 2021/22.For those children who are not enrolled at a school, the department collects termly data on home educated children and children missing education from local authorities, doing so on a voluntary basis since October 2022, with the collection becoming mandatory this autumn. Analysis of the data is allowing the department to understand the drivers behind the rise in children not in school and take action where appropriate. The data is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/652cf499697260000dccf830/Elective_home_education_and_children_missing_education_2023-24_aggregate_data_collection_guide_v1.1.pdf.Parents have a right to educate their children at home and must provide an efficient, suitable full-time education if the child is of compulsory school age. Local authorities hold the relevant powers to make enquiries with parents as to whether a suitable education is being provided. If home education appears not to be suitable, the local authority must commence the school attendance order process by first issuing a preliminary notice.The government remains committed to legislation for a local authority registration system for children not in school. My hon. Friend, the Member for Meon Valley, Flick Drummond, introduced the Children Not in School (Registers, Support and Orders) Private Members’ Bill on 11 December 2023. The Bill’s Second Reading is scheduled for 15 March 2024. The government is working with her as she progresses her Bill.Local authorities also have a duty to make arrangements to identify children in their area who are not in school or receiving a suitable education elsewhere. The department has issued statutory guidance for local authorities to support them in this duty, and is running a call for evidence on improving support for children missing education to inform future policy.To keep all children safe, revisions to Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023), clarify that a multi-agency safeguarding response applies to all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In 2021, the department provided £1.5 million to 20 local authorities across 7 regions to develop and strengthen multiagency approaches to safeguarding adolescents at risk of harm outside the home. The department funded the £2.8 million Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme (2019/2023) to help local areas develop their strategic response to extra-familial harms.

Department for Business and Trade

Stonewall: Finance

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has provided (a) grants and (b) funding to Stonewall in the last five years.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) was established in February 2023 and has not provided any grants or funding to Stonewall since it was formed. For the period prior to the formation of DBT, the question is assumed to refer to the former Department for International Trade. The Department for International Trade made a payment to Stonewall of £2,500 + VAT in financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. These payments were for membership fees as part of Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme. The Department withdrew from the programme in 2021.

INEOS: Belgium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the benefits to the UK are of the funding committed to the Ineos energy investment in Belgium.

Greg Hands: UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) support for the Ineos Project One plant secures new export opportunities for the UK by enabling an overseas buyer to finance the purchase of goods, services and/or intangibles from UK suppliers.As the UK’s export credit agency, UKEF’s mission is to advance prosperity by ensuring no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, doing that sustainably and at no net cost to the taxpayer.

Export Credit Guarantees: Debts

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2024 to Question 15586 on Export Credit Guarantees, whether Export Development Guarantee funding can be used to service existing company debts.

Greg Hands: The Export Development Guarantee (EDG) is provided to enhance the borrower’s exporting capability. UK Export Finance assesses the intended use of funds on all EDG transactions. Subject to the terms and conditions of the financing documents, if funds are provided with no explicit limitations, then they become part of the borrower’s general cash to be used in the normal course of business, which can include debt service.

Overseas Trade

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the impact of the UK's exit from the EU on the volume of goods imports and exports between 2018 and 2023; and what steps she is taking to increase goods imports and exports.

Greg Hands: We are leading a whole of Government effort to tackle trade barriers. In the 2022-23 financial year alone, the Department resolved 178 trade barriers.Total UK goods trade in 2023 was worth £974.1billion - a 15% increase compared to 2018 in current prices.We continue to help businesses trade globally with a wealth of support options on great.gov.uk, including the Export Academy, Export Champions, our International Markets network and UK Export Finance.The Department has around 300 staff across our network of Embassies and High Commissions in Europe to resolve market access barriers faced by businesses, promote exports and encourage investments.

Department for Business and Trade: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Greg Hands: Nine DBT staff members have the words equality and/or gender in their job titles. These roles are all externally facing roles, responsible for negotiating provisions and chapters within bilateral and multilateral contexts. There are no DBT staff members with diversity; inclusion; LGBT; or race in their job title. The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support theequality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDIspending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.

Shipping: Minimum Wage

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on the potential merits of establishing minimum wage corridors for seafarers working on ships between the UK and France.

Kevin Hollinrake: The department works closely with the Department for Transport at official level on topics surrounding seafarers’ wages. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Armed Forces

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 8 June 2023 to Question 187857 on Universal Credit: Armed Forces, how many Universal Credit claimants have been identified as (a) serving and (b) having served in the armed forces for the assessment period ending on 1 February 2024.

Mims Davies: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone. Data coverage continues to improve over time and by January 2024 data was held on the status of approximately 71% of the GB UC caseload. It should be noted that Armed Forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”. Data is not collected on the specific branch of the Armed Forces that claimants are serving in or have served in in the past. The table below shows the proportion of claimants who have disclosed their Armed Forces status. UC caseload monthProportion of caseload with a recorded statusCurrently servingServed in the pastNot servedPrefer not to sayNo recorded statusJuly 202251%3,00039,0002,800,00021,0002,800,000August 202253%3,20040,0002,900,00022,0002,700,000September 202254%3,20041,0003,000,00022,0002,600,000October 202256%3,30043,0003,100,00023,0002,500,000November 202257%3,30044,0003,200,00024,0002,500,000December 202258%3,40045,0003,300,00025,0002,400,000January 202359%3,50046,0003,400,00025,0002,300,000February 202361%3,50048,0003,500,00026,0002,300,000March 202362%3,60048,0003,500,00027,0002,200,000April 202363%3,70050,0003,600,00028,0002,200,000May 202364%3,80050,0003,700,00028,0002,100,000June 202365%3,90051,0003,800,00029,0002,100,000July 202366%4,00052,0003,900,00030,0002,100,000August 202366%4,00053,0003,900,00030,0002,000,000September 202367%4,00054,0004,000,00030,0002,000,000October 202368%3,90054,0004,100,00030,0002,000,000November 202369%3,90055,0004,200,00031,0001,900,000December 202370%3,90057,0004,300,00031,0001,900,000January 2024 (provisional)71%4,00058,0004,400,00032,0001,900,000  The way the data is collected means the claimants for whom an Armed Forces status is recorded may not be representative of the UC caseload as a whole. This means it is not yet possible to produce reliable estimates of the overall number or proportion of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past. Increases in the numbers of claimants with a recorded status of “currently serving” or “served in the past” do not necessarily mean the overall numbers of claimants who are currently serving or have served in the past have increased and may reflect increases in the number of claimants for whom data is held as data coverage improves over time. Notes:1. Figures are for Great Britain. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland.2. Figures in the table have been rounded according to the Department’s Official Statistics rounding policy.3. In line with the latest published People on UC official statistics, provisional figures relating to January 2024 are provided. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases.4. These figures are based on the Official Statistics UC caseload definition. Some previous figures have used an alternative caseload definition based on assessment period end dates.5. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Household Support Fund

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to assess the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund after September 2024.

Jo Churchill: The government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.

Social Security Benefits

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of cases in the targeted case review system were (a) discontinued and (b) endorsed on the grounds that they were likely to contain (i) fraud and (ii) error after being checked by a human reviewer in the most recent period for which data is available.

Paul Maynard: The TCR process is led by specialised agents to find incorrectness on claims and put it right. Prior to starting a claim review, agents will preview the claim to make sure it meets the criteria for selection. Claims selected for review are not endorsed on the grounds they are likely to contain fraud or error. It is only once a claim review is complete that an agent can determine the outcome. Performance for the financial year 22/23 is included in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) Report, available on GOV.UK. The ARA report for financial year 23/24 is expected to be published Summer 2024. We do not categorise claims as discontinued. A claim may be deselected for review if it does not meet the criteria.

Household Support Fund

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 3.35 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on extending the Household Support Fund beyond September 2024.

Jo Churchill: The government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.

Personal Independence Payment: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will introduce a marker to enable the collection of data on the number of veterans that are claiming Personal Independence Payments.

Mims Davies: We have no immediate plans to introduce such a marker. Where a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimant is a veteran, then relevant information on the functional impact of their medical condition will be gathered as part of the claiming process, either through the medical assessment, or by the DWP decision maker. PIP is based on the needs of the individual and current or previous occupation is unrelated to entitlement.

Ministry of Justice

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the finding that more children than previously stayed at HMYOI Wetherby beyond their 18th birthday.

Edward Argar: In November 2022, to support adult prison capacity challenges, it was decided that children who reach the age of 18 should generally remain in the youth estate until just prior to their 19th birthday. All placement decisions are taken on a case-by case basis, however, considering both the young person’s needs and the safety and safeguarding of others. Newly-sentenced and remanded 18-year-olds continue to be allocated to adult establishments; there are no plans to change this. The interim policy has contributed to an increase in the overall youth custody population. We are continuing to monitor the impact of holding 18-year-olds for longer in the youth estate. The level of assaults and use of force incidents as a proportion to the total population of the estate has decreased; rates of self-harm across the population have also decreased. We are conducting a review to assess the impact of the interim policy in greater detail, and will publish a report later this year.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) conditions and (b) maintenance of (i) communal areas and (ii) cells at HMYOI Wetherby.

Edward Argar: The Youth Custody Service is confident that HMYOI Wetherby is taking the required steps to improve the conditions of the grounds and facilities at the site.A new recording process will be put in place to enable the weekly facilities management meeting to take forward improvements in decency and conditions on residential units. The residential heating systems will be reviewed. Necessary repairs have been identified, including the replacement of windows on the Keppel Unit. A new graffiti removal programme will be developed, and the cleaning schedules will be reviewed and extended, to provide additional cleaning of the residential units.Residential managers will be identified, who can act as decency leads to improve maintenance assurance and ensure escalation of any continuing problems. HMYOI Wetherby is re-introducing weekend room inspections by custodial managers and senior leaders.Opportunities for paid part-time employment, including cleaning and redecoration, will be created for young people at the young offender institution, together with incentives to instil a sense of pride in, and responsibility for, their own communities.The Governor or Deputy Governor will meet weekly with AMEY, the facilities management provider, to discuss the delivery and completion of estate maintenance and the annual painting schedule. Progress will also be monitored at the monthly tri-partite meetings between the Governor or Deputy Governor, AMEY and the Regional Health and Safety Advisor.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to increase the amount of regular face-to-face contact looked-after inmates have with their (a) home local authority social worker and (b) personal adviser between formal reviews.

Edward Argar: The dedicated social workers located in HM Young Offender Institutions support staff to meet their safeguarding and looked-after child responsibilities, and facilitate good working relationships between establishments and local authorities. Additionally, the recently revised ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance includes direction for local authorities when a child becomes looked-after as a result of being remanded to youth detention accommodation.The Youth Custody Service (YCS) is developing further guidance on how professionals in establishments and the community should work together to facilitate a looked-after child’s contact with their social worker and how to resolve issues where these arise. This will be available to staff by May 2024. The YCS will also be creating opportunities for staff to come together and share good practice in this area.The YCS has recently improved processes to collate and analyse data, both on community professionals visiting children in custody, and on the social care status of children and young people in its care. The higher-quality data will help inform future work to improve care for looked-after children.Work is in progress to improve data quality in the Youth Justice Application Framework and Asset Plus framework, including the looked-after child field.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the causes of levels of self-harm by female inmates.

Edward Argar: In 2021, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England co-commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to undertake a review into the needs of girls in the children and young people secure estate. The report found that trauma-related stress is then communicated differently by boys and girls. More often, girls communicated stress through internalising behaviours such as self-harm, and boys through externalising behaviours. Any girl in the secure estate who is at risk of self-harm will be supported through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, ensuring she has a dedicated case manager, and girls with the most complex needs will receive additional monitoring and more intensive case management.

Prisoners' Release: Electronic Tagging

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether all prisoners released under the end of custody supervised license are required to wear an electronic tag.

Edward Argar: All prisoners released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence are subject to a set of standard licence conditions as identified by Probation in their release management plan such as non-contact requirements, exclusion zones or GPS tagging.These are not requirements in every case as conditions are set for individual prisoners to create the best chance of reducing reoffending and protecting the public.

Prisons: Civil Disorder

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions the Gold Command suite was opened for a prison incident in each year since 1 January 2010; and for which (a) prisons and (b) incidents it was opened.

Edward Argar: HMPPS has adopted the Gold, Silver, Bronze command system to manage incidents across all establishments. Some incidents will trigger the automatic opening of the Gold Command suite. The Gold Commander is the strategic lead for the management of the incident. Gold determines strategic objectives, sets tactical parameters, and approves the Silver Commander’s tactical plans. Incidents involving Gold Command suite opening have declined significantly since their peak in 2015.The attached tables provide the information requested.Incidents (xlsx, 38.8KB)

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the finding that some separated children receive 30 minutes a day out of their cell at HMYOI Wetherby.

Edward Argar: HM Inspectorate’s report explains that the key reason for differences in length of time out of room, was whether children could mix with other children. The Youth Custody Service (YCS) will aim to reduce the length of time for which children at HMYOI Wetherby are separated, and improve the regime provided for them, by introducing new guidance which will make for a consistent approach to carrying out Rule 49 (Removal from association) reviews. A psychologist will provide timely short-term assessments of risk and need, to support efficient reintegration at the earliest opportunity.The YCS will seek to ensure that reintegration planning commences at the point of separation, and includes input from all key areas, to ensure the child is provided with a purposeful regime including education, gymnasium, wing-based activities and psychology.We will improve the education provision for all children, and the charity Kinetic Youth will be involved in enhancing provision for separated children.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of new inmates arriving after 8pm at HMYOI Wetherby.

Edward Argar: The Youth Custody Service Placement Team endeavours to place every child who is sentenced to custody safely, appropriately, and swiftly. Each child’s placement is determined by the Placement Team following a thorough review of all evidence presented by the child’s Youth Offending Team. If all relevant information is available, the decision on placement can be taken quickly, but factors outside the team’s control – for example, if the child’s case is heard towards the end of the court day – can lead to late arrival in custody.Some placements are at a significant distance from the court, though the effect of this is mitigated, as far as possible, by children being moved direct to the placement location. Additionally, there may be delays in escorting the child to the placement – stoppages caused by road traffic accidents, for example – which can be outside the control of the escort providers. We have robust contract management processes in place to ensure the performance of Prison Service Escort Contractors.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby (20 November - 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of reducing time spent in cells on levels of (a) violence and (b) self-harm at HMYOI Wetherby.

Edward Argar: The Youth Custody Service’s COVID-19 Research & Evaluation Programme Report, published in January 2023 (Youth Custody Service YCS CoRE Programme report (publishing.service.gov.uk)) explored the experiences of those involved in the youth secure estate in England and Wales during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the key findings was that staff were concerned about the effect on children’s well-being of regime restrictions and interruptions to criminal cases. They noted, however, a reduction in self-harm and violence, which they related to children’s feeling safer, as a result of smaller residential groups and a calmer regime.   Overall, our primary strategy to reduce violence within the youth estate is to deliver our framework for integrated care, known as ‘SECURE STAIRS,’ which seeks to support staff in working with children and young people to provide trauma-informed care which addresses the causes of their offending behaviour and sustainable long-term support in preparing them for release. This is delivered in partnership with NHS England, and includes improvements in areas such as conflict resolution and specialist psychological interventions.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby (20 November - 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to discrimination complaints.

Edward Argar: HMYOI Wetherby has put measures in place to improve the timeliness and quality of discrimination complaint responses. A tiered quality-assurance process has been introduced for discrimination incident reporting forms (DIRFs); Equality Advisors and the Head of Equalities will quality-assess all DIRF cases, monitoring the promptness and quality of investigation responses. An escalation process, overseen by the Deputy Governor, is in place for any overdue responses. In addition, the monthly meetings of the Senior Leadership Team and Equality Action Group will discuss the DIRFs submitted during the previous month, to identify any trends relating to discrimination.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours spent out of cells by female inmates was on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days at HMYOI Wetherby in January 2024.

Edward Argar: The information requested, stated in hours and minutes, is set out in the table below. The figures below were calculated during January 2024.Weekday4hr 34minsWeekends4hr 24mins As the number of girls at HMYOI Wetherby is very small, it would not be statistically appropriate to try to draw conclusions from the above figures about girls’ general experience of time out of room.We recognise the importance of ensuring that time in a secure setting is purposeful, and we are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the necessary and appropriate access to education, skills, and work related provision with a consistent daily programme of activities supporting their wellbeing and progress. The Youth Custody Service continues to review daily activity and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, with a focus on staff recruitment and retention to support this delivery.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 20 November – 7 December 2023, published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of future options for the accommodation of girls on the Secure Youth Estate.

Edward Argar: His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service is providing support to the staff at HMYOI Wetherby who care for girls in the Keppel Unit. The Youth Custody Service is looking to develop a gender-specific operating model for HMYOI Wetherby, and gender-responsive guidance for the wider youth secure estate. We will continue to place girls into the Keppel Unit when it best suits their needs. For the longer term, we are examining future placement options of girls who receive a custodial sentence, together with the operational support and training needed for the care of girls in the youth estate.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to improve the teaching of English at HMYOI Wetherby.

Edward Argar: Education managers created a reading strategy which commenced in November 2023 and is in use across the prison, making sure reading for purpose and reading for pleasure are adequately planned and delivered in all lessons, including those for children receiving outreach tuition. The Head of Education, Skills & Work at HMYOI Wetherby, who is part of the Senior Management Team, will work with the education provider to effect improvements in the quality of English teaching. Attention will be given to ensuring that teachers, when planning learning, pay full regard to children’s starting points, so as to be able to maintain their interest and engagement. All functional skills staff will be required to attend collaborative planning workshops, to improve planning for learning, create clear assessment checkpoints and markers for assessing progress, and develop a sequenced curriculum for delivering English lessons. The Education provider will ensure their staff are teaching to good or outstanding grades through observations of teaching and learning, providing continual professional development and support to any staff who do not reach the required minimum standards. This will be monitored through contract management processes.

Wetherby Young Offender Institution

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the quality of risk assessments completed by resettlement practitioners.

Edward Argar: Following the previous inspection of HMYOI Wetherby, additional emphasis was placed on resettlement work. This has resulted in improved outcomes for children and young people in our care. HM Inspectorate’s latest report notes that children and 18-year-olds received good support from resettlement practitioners (RPs) and the social workers who worked with them, and Home Detention Curfew (HDC), transitions, parole and early release processes were managed well.The Head of Resettlement at HMYOI Wetherby will lead improvement in the quality and consistency of risk-assessment work by RPs, by undertaking the following actions:senior leaders and first line managers will highlight any knowledge gaps, to share good practice and identify learning for a training needs analysisdeveloping and delivering an appropriate catalogue of training in relation to young people over the age of 18 who are transitioning to the adult estate, as well as Prisoner Offender Management training, for all RPsimproving RP knowledge and understanding of the intervention catalogue, through awareness sessions, delivered quarterly by treatment managers; andensuring resettlement targets are shared with all children via their in-room launchpads, so that they are aware of their objectives, and that objectives are recorded on electronic case notes.

Ministry of Justice: Domestic Visits

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.

Mike Freer: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Digital Technology

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Government response to paragraph 62 of the Third Report of Session 2022-23 by the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Digital exclusion, HL 219, published on 20 October 2023, what progress the dedicated cross-Whitehall ministerial group has made.

Saqib Bhatti: The Government established a cross-Whitehall ministerial group in response to a recommendation from the House of Lords Communication and Digital Committee’s report on ‘Digital Exclusion’, published in June 2023. The ministerial group aims to drive progress and accountability on digital inclusion priorities across Government. The first ministerial group meeting took place in September 2023, chaired by the then Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully. Ministers attended from the Cabinet Office, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, and His Majesty's Treasury. The group agreed to undertake a departmental mapping exercise to drive and increase coherence across departmental work. It has also discussed specific priority issues, including the viability of each department joining device donation scheme, options to increase the accessibility of parking payments and accessibility of online government services. The group will receive an update on these issues at its next meeting later this month.

Kate Sang

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her statement issued on 5 March 2024, how much official time was spent (a) drafting that statement and (b) negotiating with Professor Sang's lawyers; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of those negotiations.

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her letter of 28 October 2023 to UK Research and Innovation on that organisation's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion board, how much her Department paid to Professor Kate Sang.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her letter of 23 October 2023 to UK Research and Innovation on that organisation's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion board, whether her Department has paid a sum to Professor Kate Sang in relation to that letter.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of (a) damages and (b) legal costs to the Department following legal action by Professor Kate Sang.

Mick Whitley: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her letter of 23 October 2023 to UK Research and Innovation on that organisation's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion board, whether her Department has paid a sum to Professor Kate Sang in relation to that letter.

Andrew Griffith: I refer the hon. Member to the opening statement by the Secretary of State at the Lords Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee on 12 March 2024.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Russia: Ukraine

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Russian missile strike on Odesa on 6 March 2024; and what diplomatic steps he is taking to support Ukraine against such attacks.

Leo Docherty: We are appalled by Russia's recent attack on Odesa. On 12 January, the Prime Minister announced £2.5 billion in military support for 2024/25, supporting the largest delivery of drones to Ukraine from any single nation. Despite repeated Russian attacks on Odesa, Ukraine is now exporting the highest monthly volumes from its Black Sea ports since the war began. We are in constant contact with our international partners to ensure Ukraine receives the diplomatic support it needs. In recent weeks, the Foreign Secretary has set out our high level of ambition, including in Rio with G20 colleagues, at the UN Security Council in New York, the Ukraine Conference in Paris and in Berlin with his German counterpart.

Press Freedom

David Morris: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the joint debate entitled Countering SLAPPs: an imperative for a democratic society, and Guaranteeing media freedom and the safety of journalists: an obligation of member States at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January 2024.

Leo Docherty: The UK implements the Council of Europe campaign through the National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists. The FCDO is committed to media freedom. We raise violations across the world including through the Media Freedom Coalition to hold to account those abusing or restricting media freedom. We oppose all attempts by any state to restrict press freedom, silence debate, abuse journalists, or spread misinformation - whether online or offline. The FCDO facilitates sharing UK best practice, including on developing and implementing legislation and measures to counter Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), in international fora.

Ukraine: Children

David Morris: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the debate entitled Situation of the children of Ukraine held at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January 2024.

Leo Docherty: We strongly condemn the forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine. The UK welcomes the Council of Europe's role in highlighting this issue and supports the Reykjavik Declaration on the situation of the children of Ukraine. We continue to call on Russia to cease forced transfers, allow unhindered, immediate and safe access for humanitarian organisations. They must facilitate the safe return of children to Ukraine, in line with Russia's obligations under international law.We are a participant in the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. In June 2022, the UK also sanctioned Putin's so-called "Commissioner for Children's Rights" Maria Lvova-Belova, for her alleged involvement in the forced deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children.

Alaa Abdel Fattah

Wayne David: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent estimate he has made of when UK officials will be granted consular access to Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

David Rutley: Ministers and officials continue to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian government and have been consistently clear in our calls for his release, while continuing to press the need for urgent consular access. The Foreign Secretary most recently raised his case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry on 22 February. The Foreign Secretary and Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, also raised his case with President Sisi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry on 21 December 2023. The Prime Minister raised Mr El-Fattah's case with President Sisi on 1 December 2023.

Gaza: Orphans

Sarah Green: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to help support children in Gaza who have been orphaned in the conflict.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We have been clear that there must be a reduction in civilian casualties. All parties must act within International Humanitarian Law. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians, in particular children, and destroying homes. We are calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.We are directly funding UNICEF and the Red Cross to provide vital support for children's health in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including mental health services, medical care, essential supplies, food security, nutrition, clean water, shelter and other humanitarian assistance.For UNICEF specifically, we have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution, part of our wider £60 million humanitarian uplift. This is supporting their work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support.

Armed Conflict: Visas

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of enabling (a) Palestinian civilians in Gaza and (b) other people living in war zones to apply for a visa without visiting a visa application centre.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Foreign Secretary meets regularly with the Home Secretary to discuss relevant policy matters between the two departments. Visa applications can be started online at any time. Applicants are required to enrol their biometrics in a Visa Application Centre (VAC) as part of the visa application process to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. Foreign national dependents of British citizens who are travelling from Gaza to Egypt and require visas to come to the UK can apply online and then visit the Visa Application Centre in Cairo or Alexandria to provide their biometric information. Further advice on travelling to Egypt from Gaza is available at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/israel. The FCDO Consular Contact Centre can be contacted on 020 7008 5000.There are no plans to authorise entry clearance without biometrics for visa applications from Palestinian civilians in Gaza and or other people living in war zones. Palestinians in Gaza who want to apply for a UK visa but are not a dependent of a British National are not currently eligible for FCDO assistance.

Gaza: Journalism

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps he has taken to ensure the protection of journalists in Gaza.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We recognise the valuable role of journalists operating on the ground in Gaza, providing important coverage of the conflict in incredibly challenging circumstances. On 5 December, the UK supported a joint statement of the Media Freedom Coalition expressing concern over the repercussions for the safety of journalists and access to information due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to comply with international law and protect civilians, including guaranteeing the protection of journalists and media workers.There must be a reduction in civilian casualties and Israel must take greater care to limit its operations to military targets. These are points that the Prime Minister has consistently made and reinforced with Prime Minster Netanyahu when they spoke on 15 February.

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will hold discussions with his Chinese counterpart on (a) ending transnational repression of and (b) the removal of bounties placed on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in the UK.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We continue to make clear with the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities our strong objection to the National Security Law, and attempts to apply it extraterritorially. That extends to the decisions by the Hong Kong National Security Police to issue arrest warrants and bounties for activists living in the UK in 2023. We will not tolerate any attempts to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK. On 17 December, the Foreign Secretary called on the Chinese authorities to repeal the National Security Law and end the prosecution of all individuals charged under it. On 16 February the Foreign Secretary met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference and unambiguously set out the UK's position across a number of areas of disagreement, including on Hong Kong. The National Security Law has no authority in the UK and we have no active extradition agreement with Hong Kong or China.

Russia: Exports

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps he is taking to prevent businesses from evading sanctions by exporting goods to Russia via third countries.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Working closely with G7 partners, we have stepped up our engagement with third countries to support them to tackle circumvention of UK sanctions. We have sent joint delegations to UAE, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Armenia, to highlight risks and offer technical support to government and business.The UK Government supports businesses domestically to tackle sanctions evasion, including by publishing guidance for exporters and by publishing the "Common High Priority Items List" of goods critical to Russia's military. HMG is also standing up the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation, which will boost the enforcement and implementation of UK trade sanctions.

Pakistan: Politics and Government

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts on political stability in Pakistan.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK has a longstanding and close relationship with Pakistan. Following the general election in Pakistan on 8 February, the Foreign Secretary issued a statement which recognised the serious concerns raised about the fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections. FCDO officials are in close contact with like-minded counterparts, including NATO members, on a range of shared priorities, including Pakistan's political and economic stability.

Burkina Faso: Churches

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the attack on a church in Burkina Faso on 25 February 2014.

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential security implications for Christian minorities in Sub-Saharan Africa of the withdrawal of French troops from that region.

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support his Department is providing to Burkina Faso following the recent attack on a Catholic church in that country.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is appalled by the attacks against churches, mosques and local communities in Burkina Faso that took place in late February. As Lord Ahmad said on 26 February, freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is a fundamental right and must be protected, and those responsible for these heinous attacks must be held to account. We routinely discuss security challenges with the transitional authorities in Burkina Faso and continue to work with partners in the region to promote stability.The UK is monitoring the threat from terrorist groups in the Sahel and has proscribed the Al-Qaeda associated group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). We assess that the terrorist threat in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso will likely increase as a result of ongoing instability as will the risk of atrocities against people of all faiths by jihadist armed groups. We do not believe that the withdrawal of French troops alone will have direct implications on the safety of Christian minorities due to the often remote regions where these attacks take place, and the multitude of local factors that influence conflict dynamics in Sahel.The UK signed up to the UN Security Council statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso which was issued on 29 February 2024, and also continues to provide vital humanitarian aid in the Sahel to support those affected by conflict.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Sarah Green: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that civilians in Gaza receive medical aid.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, with a focus on practical solutions that save lives. We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and are supporting NGO and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams.We have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution. This is supporting work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support. At the end of February, we announced £4.25 million to the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits. On 21 February, the UK and Jordan air-dropped life-saving aid to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza. Four tonnes of vital supplies were provided, including medicines, fuel, and food for hospital patients and staff. We are also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Domestic Visits

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.

David Rutley: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers' travel at home or abroad.

Colombia: Homicide

Kim Johnson: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the alleged murders of (a) José Roa, (b) Luis Eduardo Sterling and (c) Yilber Silva in Colombia on 14 January 2024.

David Rutley: Supporting the Colombian Government in its commitment to secure a broad and lasting peace remains an important priority of this Government. I [Minister Rutley] raised the human rights situation during my visit to Colombia this month (4-5 February) where I urged the Colombian Government to take further steps to protect vulnerable groups and individuals affected by conflict. In May 2023, the former Foreign Secretary committed £3.6 million from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) in 2023/24 to support the implementation of the Peace Agreement and to improve stability and security, including on human rights. Through the CSSF programme, we continue to support programmes that help to protect former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) combatants and other vulnerable groups affected by violence.

Colombia: Peace Negotiations

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his Colombian counterpart on support for peace talks with the Estado Mayor Central armed group.

David Rutley: In February, the UK jointly led the third UN Security Council (UNSC) visit to Colombia in support of the 2016 peace process. The Council met with President Petro and the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace to discuss the Colombian Government's vision to broaden peace through dialogue with armed groups. The Council discussed the dialogue with the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) which it has indicated a willingness to consider mandating the UN to support. Through our role as penholder at the UN Security Council (UNSC), the UK will continue to work closely with international partners in support of the peace process in Colombia.

Children: Abuse

David Morris: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the debate entitled Child abuse in institutions in Europe at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 26 January 2024.

Leo Docherty: The UK Government remains firmly committed to promoting the rights of children at home and overseas, this includes working to tackle all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. We value the work of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe and our UK delegation in debating these important issues.

Belarus: Politics and Government

David Morris: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the debate entitled A democratic future for Belarus at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January 2024.

Leo Docherty: The UK values the work of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe in highlighting the increasingly repressive landscape in Belarus, and the continued failure to hold democratic elections that meet international standards. We share the Assembly's ambition for a future democratic, independent Belarus. We have applied wide-ranging sanctions to Belarus in response to the regime's continued human rights violations. We will continue to put pressure on Lukashenko's regime in pursuit of the free and democratic society that Belarusians deserve.

Torture: Europe

David Morris: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the debate entitled Allegations of systemic torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention in Europe at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 24 January 2024.

Leo Docherty: The Government unreservedly condemns the use of torture for any purpose and continues to call on all States to ensure that those in detention are treated in line with international human rights law. We value the work of the Committee on the Prevention of Torture at the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe and our UK delegation in debating these important issues.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Standards

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a statutory regulator to improve the quality of new-build housing developments.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on putting the New Homes Ombudsman on a statutory footing.

Lee Rowley: The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the consultation on a direction to the Regulator of Social Housing to set a Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing, published on 6 February 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending competency and mandatory qualification standards to residential property managers who are responsible for (a) tall and high-risk and (b) other residential buildings.

Lee Rowley: We are currently consulting on a direction to the Regulator of Social Housing to set a Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing, which closes on 2nd April. We will analyse responses and respond in due course.PAS 8673 (Competence requirements for the management of safety in residential buildings) already sets out a competence framework for people involved in managing residential buildings. This includes support for accountable persons and others in managing building safety risks in higher risk buildings, and for those managing non higher-risk residential buildings.

Levelling Up Fund: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the status is of the third round of the Levelling Up Fund in Northern Ireland.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much levelling-up funding (a) has been transferred and (b) he plans to transfer to the Northern Ireland Executive as part of the financial settlement with that devolved Administration.

Jacob Young: The information requested is set out on gov.uk here and here.

Housing: South Holland and the Deepings

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of residential properties constructed in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since 2015.

Lee Rowley: The department’s most comprehensive measure of housing supply is our annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’. This includes estimates of new homes added in each local authority, but does not show figures at the constituency level. You can find data for South Holland District Council here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.

Affordable Housing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of homes for social rent that will be delivered through the Affordable Homes Programme between 2021 and 2026.

Jacob Young: Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.

Parking: Private Sector

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16462 on Parking: Private Sector, what representations his Department has received from stakeholders on the potential merits of increasing regulatory scrutiny of private parking companies since 2019.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a new private parking code of practice.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16462 on Parking: Private Sector, what meetings he has had to discuss the level of regulatory scrutiny of private parking companies since 2019.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16462 on Parking: Private Sector, if he will publish a plan to increase the regulatory scrutiny of private parking companies.

Jacob Young: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 15378 on 28 February 2024. Furthermore, the Code has been produced in close consultation with private parking experts including consumer and industry groups. The Government continues to work with these groups to ensure the Code comes into effect as quickly as possible.

Housing and Carbon Emissions: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will commission research on the potential (a) social, (b) economic and (c) environmental merits of introducing targeted Government funding to (i) reduce the number of long-term empty homes, (ii) meet national net zero objectives and (iii) increase the supply of social housing.

Jacob Young: The Government has a range of policy and funding commitments across social housing, net zero and long-term empty homes. Details of these are available on gov.uk and include the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme and the recently expanded Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme 2020. The Department’s empty homes policy. I also refer the Hon Member to answer given to Question UIN 197506 on 12 September 2023.On net zero, the Government has implemented a number of measures to meet its net zero objectives for housing, including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. Details of the Future Homes Standard consultation, closing on 27 March 2024, can be found at the following link.

Shared Ownership Schemes

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase access to shared ownership properties for potential buyers who have inherited a property or part of a property that they cannot or are unable to sell, but which is not suitable for them to live in.

Jacob Young: The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government’s plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the property ladder. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country, including new shared ownership homes.If a beneficiary inherits a shared ownership home that it is not suitable for them to live in, we advise that they discuss their sale options with the home’s landlord, including how best to market the home and if the landlord can help to identify eligible buyers.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the (a) Social Housing Act 2023 and (b) Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 in relation to (i) the protection of and (ii) the provision of opportunities for recourse to action for residents living on local authority-owned Gypsy and Traveller sites that are in need of repair.

Lee Rowley: Responsibility for the provision, repairs and maintenance of traveller sites is with local authorities.

Property Management Companies

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's consultation on building safety directors, published on 1 December 2022, which closed on 7 February 2023, which right to manage companies his Department has (a) received representations from and (b) otherwise consulted as part of that consultation.

Lee Rowley: Responses came from a cross-section of the sector including Right to Manage and Resident Management companies, as well as individual directors of Right to Manage and Resident Management companies and individual leaseholders. The Government is carefully considering their feedback, and the Building Safety Regulator continues to work with a range of stakeholders, including through their new statutory Residents Panel.

Women and Equalities

Conversion Therapy

Peter Gibson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, on what date will draft legislation to ban conversion practices be published.

Stuart Andrew: This Government remains committed to protecting everyone from abhorrent and harmful conversion practices, including transgender people. The challenges of legislating in this area are considerable, and it is right and proper that this Government puts the draft Bill forward for pre-legislative scrutiny, as a further safeguard against unintended consequences.Our draft Bill is being finalised. The Government expects to deliver a draft Bill that takes account of the independent Cass review, which is itself expected shortly.

Wales Office

United Kingdom

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of the Union.

David T C Davies: Our United Kingdom has never been stronger.This Government is championing the Welsh contribution to our shared strength and prosperity, including announcing two Investment Zones for Wales, worth £160 million each. They will boost productivity, support high-priority jobs and level up the economy in Wrexham and Flintshire Cardiff and Newport.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the future of the steelmaking industry in Wales?

David T C Davies: I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including steelmaking in Wales.This Government is investing £500 million into steelmaking at Port Talbot. This will protect 5,000 steel jobs and thousands more in the supply chain whilst increasing our economic security.

Wales Office: Domestic Visits

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.

David T C Davies: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

Treasury

Carbon Emissions

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to undertake a review of the criteria used to determine which industries are included in its carbon border adjustment mechanism proposals.

Gareth Davies: The government will implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) from 1 January 2027 to ensure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions. The CBAM will apply a carbon price to relevant imported goods at risk of carbon leakage from the following sectors: aluminium, cement, ceramics, fertiliser, glass, hydrogen, iron & steel.In making the decision around the initial sectoral scope of the UK CBAM, the government looked primarily at three factors: inclusion in the UK ETS as the purpose of the CBAM is to ensure a comparable treatment of imported goods and domestic products from a carbon pricing perspective, carbon leakage risk, and feasibility and effectiveness.The scope of the UK CBAM will be kept under review. Further details on the design and delivery of a UK CBAM, including the precise list of products in scope within the announced sectors, will be the subject of consultation in 2024.

Companies: Bank Services

Derek Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that companies have access to bank accounts.

Bim Afolami: The Government recognises the vital role businesses play in fuelling economic growth, and it is important they can access the banking services they need. The decisions about what products are offered to individual businesses remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies.The UK benefits from a very competitive environment for banking services, so there are a wide range of options available to businesses in need of a new bank account.I would encourage businesses seeking a bank account to explore the Business Current Account finder tool developed by UK Finance, which was designed to help businesses compare the full range of bank accounts available and find products that best suit their needs. Businesses may also find it helpful to explore UK Finance’s online guidance on applying for a bank account to understand what is required by banks and why. My officials continue to engage with industry to understand any emerging issues regarding access to bank accounts.

Household Support Fund: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, how much Barnett Consequential funding Northern Ireland will receive from the announcement on the Household Support Fund.

Laura Trott: As a result of decisions at Spring Budget, the Northern Ireland Executive are now receiving around £100 million in additional funding in 2024-25 through the Barnett formula. The next Block Grant Transparency publication will include a breakdown of the Barnett consequentials for the Northern Ireland Executive from Spring Budget 2024. It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to allocate their resources in devolved areas as they see fit.

National Insurance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of reductions in national insurance on (a) public services and (b) investment in business.

Laura Trott: National Insurance cuts are part of the Government’s long-term plan to grow the economy.By taking a disciplined approach to public spending, driving productivity in the public sector, and ensuring our tax system is balanced and fair; the government can continue cutting taxes responsibly, while ensuring public finances continue to be managed sustainably.

Public Finance: Equality

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to ensure that the positive financial impact of measures in the Budget is equally experienced by people (a) with and (b) without protected characteristics.

Laura Trott: When developing policy, including at Spring Budget 2024, the Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing any of the nine protected characteristics, including sex, race, disability and age, in line with its statutory obligations and strong commitment to promoting fairness.

Aviation: Training

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce VAT relief for pilot training.

Nigel Huddleston: Pilot training may be exempt from VAT when provided by an eligible body which meets certain conditions (for example, when provided by a government institution or certain regulated organisations), but otherwise will be subject to the standard rate. The Government currently has no plans to remove VAT on pilot flight training courses more broadly.

Treasury: Domestic Visits

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.

Gareth Davies: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).However, as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

UK Emissions Trading Scheme

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of providing relief from the emissions trading scheme to businesses that export products to external markets.

Gareth Davies: The UK is a world leader on carbon pricing. That is why we have an ambitious carbon pricing system, which ensures that polluters pay for their emissions.Those businesses are protected from carbon leakage in the form of free allowances under the Emissions Trading Scheme, and from 2027, some UK sectors will be protected from carbon leakage by a UK CBAM. The CBAM is a charge on imports and is unlikely to be a suitable tool to address the carbon leakage risk related to exported goods.The government will continue to assess the impact of carbon pricing on carbon leakage risk for UK industry, including for businesses that export products abroad.

UK Emissions Trading Scheme

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new measures to help support businesses participating in the emissions trading scheme.

Gareth Davies: The Government is committed to supporting decarbonisation. That is why it protects sectors included in the Emissions Trading Scheme against carbon leakage by allocating free allowances, with installations vulnerable to carbon leakage receiving up to 100% of their emissions allowances for free based on sector benchmarks.The Government also delivers compensation for the majority of indirect electricity costs imposed by the ETS and CPS on the UK’s most electricity-intensive businesses, through a compensation scheme, which is worth approximately £120 million a year.In addition, the Government offers a range of support schemes for industry to decarbonise, such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports industrial sites with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future. Applications for phase 3 of the Fund, which is worth £185m, were launched in January 2024.Lastly, at Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented up to £20 billion for the early development of CCUS to help meet the Government’s climate commitments.

Cabinet Office

Infected Blood Inquiry: Pay

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2024 to Question 16659 on Blood: Contamination, how much members of the expert group who are not legal experts will be paid.

John Glen: As set out in my response to Question 16659, members of the expert group will receive remuneration for their work. However, the Government will not be releasing the details of how much individual members of the expert group are being paid.

Civil Servants: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Going Forward into Employment initiative for veterans.

Johnny Mercer: Regular updates on a range of veteran specific initiatives, including Going Forward into Employment, are published as part of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 6 monthly report and in the Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Annual Report.The latest updates report that over 200 veterans have been employed in the Civil Service through Going Forward into Employment, and over 1,000 Civil Service jobs secured through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.This is matched by the all-time high of veterans’ employment in the UK, with 89% employed within six months of leaving service when engaging with available support.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Offenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.

Dr Andrew Murrison: This information is not centrally held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, Civil Service applicants must declare any criminal convictions during the application process. This is reviewed during the security clearance process run by UKSV. The Ministry of Defence does not routinely employ people with unspent convictions.

Hawk Aircraft: Decommissioning

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the current out of service date is for the Hawk T2 aircraft.

James Cartlidge: The planned out of service date for the Hawk T2 aircraft is 2040.

Ministry of Defence: Capita

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he next plans to meet representatives of Capita.

James Cartlidge: The Defence Secretary has no scheduled meetings with representatives of Capita, though officials are in regular contact with the company as part of their routine engagement.

Air Force: Training

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many pilots were placed on international flight training schemes as of 5 March 2024.

James Heappey: Eleven pilots are currently on international flight training schemes.

Hawk Aircraft

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the Department’s Hawk T2 aircraft are operational.

James Heappey: DateNumber of Hawk T2 Aircraft Serviceable at 0800 hrs1 Feb 2492 Feb 24115 Feb 2496 Feb 2487 Feb 24118 Feb 2489 Feb 24812 Feb 241013 Feb 24814 Feb 24815 Feb 24916 Feb 24819 Feb 24620 Feb 24821 Feb 24822 Feb 24723 Feb 24826 Feb 24827 Feb 24828 Feb 241029 Feb 247   The answer has been given as the highest number of aircraft available at any given time on the day.

Air Force: Training

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF pilots have been trained in (a) the UK and (b) overseas in each year since 2010.

James Heappey: I am withholding the information requested as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Brunei: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel have been deployed in Brunei in each year since 2010.

James Heappey: The UK stations military assets in Brunei under the terms of the formal agreement held with His Majesty the Sultan. The total number stationed has been between 750 and 910 since 2010. Full details are in the tables below.  Number of UK MOD Personnel Stationed in Brunei as at 1 January since 2010 YearJan-10Jan-11Jan-12Jan-13Jan-14Jan-15Jan-16Jan-17Jan-18Jan-19Jan-20Jan-21Jan-22Jan-23Jan-24Total750 900 910890810730760790770800780780810820880  Number of Unique UK Armed Forces Service Personnel Deployed to Brunei by Calendar Year  20102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023Total~~---~~~401030201030

Armed Forces: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel have reported symptoms of PTSD in each year since 2010.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The number of UK Armed Forces personnel with an initial assessment of PTSD by a specialist mental health clinician at a Ministry of Defence Department for Community Mental Health in each year since 2010 is presented in the table below: YearNumber20102442011254201232320133702014316201528120163052017315201828220193522020215202120320222662023320

Ministry of Defence: Mental Health Services

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's budget for specialist mental health support was in each year since 2010.

Dr Andrew Murrison: All Service personnel have access to mental health support throughout their career, including medical and non-medical services. This includes, but is not limited to, preventative support such as wellbeing services, digital content, access to trained mental health first aiders, interventional support, and appointments with clinical staff. For Armed Forces personnel requiring mental healthcare, the Defence Medical Services (DMS) provides a responsive, flexible, accessible, and comprehensive treatment service. The table provides the spend for the clinical facing specialist element of mental health support delivered by Defence Primary Health Care, part of the DMS, to Armed Forces personnel: Financial Year£ million2015-201615.32016-201717.82017-201821.12018-201919.82019-202020.72020-202120.42021-202221.32022-202321.0

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what dates the Minister for Defence Procurement has met management of General Dynamics Land Systems to discuss the AJAX project since his appointment.

James Cartlidge: I met with representatives of General Dynamics during the Defence and Security Equipment International Show in September 2023.

Armed Forces: Mefloquine

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what guidance his Department provides to personnel prescribed Mefloquine.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Anti-malaria drugs, including mefloquine, are only prescribed after a face-to-face individual risk assessment and mefloquine is only prescribed by a doctor and after other alternatives have been identified as unsuitable. Personnel supplied with anti-malarial drugs, including mefloquine, are issued copies of all manufacturer-provided patient documentation relevant to that drug and are informed of all special warnings or precautions to anti-malarial drugs.All personnel receive a pre-deployment brief in accordance with Joint Service Publication (JSP) 950 leaflet 3-2-2 'Operational Deployment Health Briefings'. A key area covered by the brief is a description of the anti-malaria drugs including information about dosing and side effects at an appropriate level for the audience, tailored to the specific operation or exercise. There is additional guidance to individuals outlined in Joint Service Publication 950 Leaflet 3-3-1: Preventing Malaria in Military Populations.

LGBT Veterans Independent Review

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many awards to veterans have been made consequent to the LGBT Veterans Independent Review.

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average award made to veterans consequent on the LGBT Veterans Independent Review is.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Government accepted the recommendations of Lord Etherton’s report, including the financial award scheme in its formal response, published in December 2023. Development of the scheme is at an early stage so the Government cannot yet confirm the details, the expected number of claimants, or the likely size of awards. The Government is committed to maintaining the momentum of the Review and continues to work at pace on the financial award scheme. Further updates on the development of the financial award will be added to the LGBT Veterans: Support and next steps page on GOV.UK when available: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/lgbt-veterans-support-and-next-steps

Defence: Artificial Intelligence

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what benchmark criteria his Department is using to assess the effectiveness of implementation of the Defence Artificial Intelligence Strategy, published in June 2022.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence is developing specific targets for core enablers that are necessary to adopt AI at scale across the organisation (people, processes, technology, and data). The AI Delivery Group (AIDG) - chaired by our Second Permanent Secretary - is overseeing this work, balancing centrally driven activities with the recognition that some areas of Defence will move faster than others and we cannot risk stifling the pace of innovation through an overly regimented programme management approach.

Military Aircraft

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many flying hours have been completed on VIP-configured RAF aircraft in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: Annual flying hours by aircraft type for the RAF’s Command Support Aircraft Transport fleet, together with VIP Voyager ZZ336 are given in the table below. They are rounded to the nearest 10. Financial YearBAE 146EnvoyA109SPVoyager ZZ336 (3)2019-20370N/A230702020-21940N/A200102021-221080N/A280802022-23N/A700(1)360202023-24(2)N/A1120400110(1) From June 2022(2) To 5 March 2024 only.(3) VIP flights only Envoy replaced the BAE 146 which went out of service at the end of Financial Year 2021-22. Of the RAF’s fleet of Voyager aircraft, only ZZ336 has been configured for the VIP role. When not being used for VIP transport, ZZ336 undertakes routine air-to-air refuelling tasks.

Ministry of Defence: Furniture

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on office furniture in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Personal Injury

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many motoring related personal injury claims have been made against his Department by armed forces personnel in each year since 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The information below has been produced from contracted claims handlers and Ministry of Defence in-house data where a common law claim for compensation from a member of the UK Armed Forces has been recorded as involving a vehicle and/or a military driver. 2019 - 142020 - 82021 - 32022 - 22023 - 5

Armed Forces: Motor Vehicles

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the value was of commercial civilian vehicle leasing and hire contracts with his Department in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: The information provided below relates to commercial civilian road vehicle lease and hire. The Ministry of Defence has a central contract in place for hire and leased vehicles including cars, minibuses, coaches and vans, as well as specialist vehicles such as dog vans, horse ambulances and mountain rescue vehicles,which are booked through the central booking system. The spend on hire and leased vehicles through this contract for the last five financial years is as follows: Financial Year (FY)FY2019-20FY2020-21FY2021-22FY2022-23FY2023-24 (1 Apr 23 to 11 Mar 24)Total spend£116.2 million£94.6 million£108.8 million£132.0 million£136.5 million Please note that there may be circumstances where transportation is booked outside the central booking system, which is not captured here.

Defence Equipment & Support: Staff

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) permanent and (b) contracted staff there were in Defence Equipment and Support in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: The average number of full-time equivalent posts filled in each financial year since 2018-19 is: 2018-192019-202020-212021-222022-23Permanent10,14910,26310,34810,27210,258Contingent Labour211643699657971Contingent Labour encompasses individuals temporarily employed, through a variety of schemes, to deliver activity which might otherwise be carried out by permanent DE&S staff. This may be for a number of reasons, for example due to a lack of required skills in the existing workforce, or because the need itself is temporary.Figures for 2023-24 are not available at this time.A record of the number of staff who deliver outputs for Defence Equipment & Support through a private sector support contract is not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Accidents

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many third party motor claims were received by his Department in each year since 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Claims received by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are published annually in the MOD common law compensation claims statistics report. The latest version, covering financial year 2022-23, can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-common-law-compensation-claims-statistics-202223/mod-common-law-compensation-claims-statistics-202223 UK Third party motor claims are shown as distinct category in Table 1, and listed below for ease of reference. 2018-19 - 1,0342019-20 - 9892020-21 - 5782021-22 - 8232022-23 - 904 In addition, a very small number of overseas third-party motor claims fall within the Public Liability Motor and Area Claims Offices categories of Table 1.

Ministry of Defence: Domestic Visits

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visa's, accommodation, meals).The Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers' travel at home or abroad. This has been the case under successive administrations.

Veterans: Aerospace Industry

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2024 to Question 13224 on Veterans: Aerospace Industry and Defence, if he will publish the Career Transition Partnership’s annual statistics on veterans they have supported.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence publishes an annual Official Statistics report covering the employment outcomes of Service leavers who utilised the support of the Career Transition Partnership. The latest figures cover Financial Year 2022-23 and were published on 15 February 2024 at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/career-transition-partnership-ex-service-personnel-employment-outcomes-statistics-index

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the status is of each ship in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary fleet.

James Cartlidge: The information requested is as follows and is accurate as of 12 February 2024. ‘Available’ is defined as ships not undergoing deep maintenance or preparing to undergo deep maintenance. ClassNot AvailableAvailableTotalRFA Tide Class Tanker224RFA Wave Class Tanker202RFA Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary)033RFA Primary Casualty Reception Facility011RFA Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment101RFA Offshore Support Vessel112 The normal operating cycle of every ship involves them entering different readiness levels depending on their programmes, periods of refit and Departmental planning requirements. To maintain operational security, these figures cannot be broken down into any further level of detail, however, I can confirm that these figures do include the new RFA Offshore Support Vessel class.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what lessons his Department has learned for the future provision of service accommodation from the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation project.

James Cartlidge: Lessons learnt from the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation project include that it provided value for money through standardisation of design, and economies of scale through a managed pipeline of projects. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is continuing to realise these benefits through our Single Living Accommodation Programmatic Approach.Standard designs have been developed in consultation with the front-line commands and industry partners. Design layouts have been amended to provide better functional spaces in bedrooms and common areas. The design of building fabric and services has been improved to achieve through life Net Zero Carbon requirements.

Army: Defence Equipment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the army’s wet gap crossing capability.

James Cartlidge: The UK Armed Forces’ Wide Wet Gap Crossing capability continues to meet all operational requirements.

Air Force: Training

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average time is that it takes the RAF to train a fast-jet pilot.

James Heappey: Royal Air Force fast jet pilots, who completed UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) training in Financial Year 2023-24, took 237 weeks on average from starting ground school to commencing operational conversion training with their frontline Units.

Sloane Helicopters: Contracts

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February to Question 14510 on Sloane Helicopters: Contracts, whether he will be able to publish the figure requested in that question once the deadline for bids for the new Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport Helicopter Service contract (procurement reference 412734/1312240) has passed on 15 March 2024.

James Cartlidge: Releasing the contract extension value before the Contract Award for the future Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport Helicopter Service could prejudice my department and our industry partner's commercial interests in the competition. The value of both the future contract and the current extension will remain commercially sensitive until 30 days after the Contract Award. At that point the final Contract Award Notice will be made available on Contracts Finder as part of standard practice.

Chinook Helicopters: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2024 to Question 12917 on Chinook Helicopters: Procurement, whether he plans to publish the conclusions of the Investment Approvals Committee on the Chinook extended range helicopter programme when it has been assessed.

James Cartlidge: The Department does not publish the outcome of Investment Approvals Committee decisions.

Ministry of Defence: Senior Civil Servants

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times a senior responsible owner role in his Department has been vacant for at least one week in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: This information is not held centrally. Short gaps may be experienced when a senior responsible owner moves on sooner than expected. While recruitment action is undertaken, temporary cover will be provided to ensure an accountable individual is in place who can take decisions and progress the programme.

Typhoon Aircraft: Training

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 121 of the report entitled Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, HC 1468, published in July 2023, for what reason the fruitless payment relating to reconstruction of multi threat wall for typhoon synthetic trainers arose.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 121 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, for what reason the fruitless payment relating to the Reconstruction of Multi Threat Wall for Typhoon Synthetic Trainers was made.

James Cartlidge: Additional costs were incurred on the Typhoon Future Synthetic Training new buildings to ensure the internal walls complied with the latest appropriate standards, in order to meet security requirements.This required the redesign and rework of walls that were already being constructed and resulted in the fruitless payment detailed in the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23.

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether the revised contractual terms with General Dynamics include changes to spending related to the Ajax contract.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether the revised contractual terms for Ajax have resulted in any adjustments to the (a) initial operating capability and (b) full operating capability dates.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, if he will publish the full revised contractual terms with General Dynamics relating to the Ajax contract.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether General Dynamics are absorbing any additional costs associated with the revised contractual terms of the Ajax programme.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether the revised contractual terms with General Dynamics related to the Ajax programme have changed the previous fixed price terms of the programme’s contract.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether the revised contractual terms with General Dynamics regarding the Ajax programme will result in changes to the delivery schedule.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 15241 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, whether General Dynamics are absorbing the additional costs associated with the recruitment of additional resource in the revised contractual terms.

James Cartlidge: The Ajax contract was amended in September 2023 to embody a revised delivery schedule and definition for Initial Operating Capability. The contract amendment also included a revised payment schedule and incentivisation mechanism but did not increase the value of the firm price contract. The terms and conditions are commercially sensitive and therefore cannot be released.

Defence: Public Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to HM Treasury's press release  entitled Chancellor delivers lower taxes, more investment and better public services in Budget for Long Term Growth, published on 6 March 2024, whether the 2.3% of GDP for defence spending includes £2.5 billion of military support allocated for Ukraine in the financial year 2024-25.

James Cartlidge: I can confirm that the figure does include the £2.5 billion allocated in support of Ukraine for Financial Year 2024-25.

Defence: Public Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to HM Treasury's press release entitled Chancellor delivers lower taxes, more investment and better public services in Budget for Long Term Growth, published on 6 March 2024, how much of the £11 billion in defence spending will be available in each financial year.

James Cartlidge: In the 2023 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a further £11 billion package of funding for the Ministry of Defence, with an additional £2 billion in 2023-24, £3 billion in 2024-25 and £2 billion per annum to 2027-28.

Defence: Artificial Intelligence

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of AI-related projects in his Department are undertaken by SMEs.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of defence capabilities in his Department incorporate artificial intelligence as of 6 March 2024.

James Cartlidge: The term Artificial Intelligence includes a broad family of technologies (from advanced automation to machine learning or symbolic logic-based systems), some of which have been in widespread use for decades. It is therefore not possible to provide accurate statistics on the proportion of Defence capabilities that incorporate such technologies. While the Defence AI Centre is monitoring over 250 R&D projects across Ministry of Defence that apply different AI technologies to their respective context, we do not currently collect statistics on the proportion undertaken by SMEs. Work is underway to better understand our total AI investment across the Defence enterprise; over time this should allow more granular reporting of supplier metrics.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Export Health Certificates

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Border Target Operating Model, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) average cost to businesses of a health certificate for an individual consignment and (b) total cost for businesses of acquiring health certificates over the next 12 months.

Mark Spencer: We will publish the Economic Impact Assessment of the legislative measures required to enable the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) in due course and no later than the Statutory Instruments (SIs) are laid. This will contain summary data tables and they will include the requested information.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Mark Spencer: The department paid £4,665,652 in apprenticeship levy fees and received £437,478.16 between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2023. This includes the 10% Government top up. The department spent £2,644,021.77 of its available apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023. The data above is for Defra Core, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Joint Nature Conservation Committee, which are collectively included in the Defra Levy Account.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Green Deal Scheme: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2023 to Question 6847 on Green Deal Scheme: Appeals, how many Green Deal Scheme appeals in each Scottish constituency have been waiting for a final decision for (a) one year, (b) two years, (c) three years, (d) four years, (e) five years and (f) six years or more.

Amanda Solloway: The numbers of complainants who have been waiting for one year, two years, three years, four years, five years and six years or more, by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency, are as follows: YearsParliamentary constituency123456Airdrie and Shotts21Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock121Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk1  1  Central Ayrshire13221Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill131Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East1123 2East Ayrshire1East Dunbartonshire2East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow1 4221East Lothian2East Renfrewshire2Edinburgh East2Edinburgh North and Leith11Edinburgh South11Falkirk1111Glasgow Central1Glasgow East11Glasgow North122Glasgow North East314Glasgow North West211Glasgow South1Glasgow South West1Glenrothes11Inverclyde122Kilmarnock and Loudoun5331Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath11111 Linlithgow and East Falkirk11Livingston111Midlothian1Motherwell & Wishaw111North Ayrshire and Arran211Ochil and South Perthshire1Paisley and South Renfrewshire11665 Rutherglen and Hamilton West1252West Dunbartonshire1142

UK Emissions Trading Scheme: Wales

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the additional support measures for industries covered by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme in ensuring the (a) environmental and (b) economic sustainability of Welsh industry.

Amanda Solloway: The UK ETS Authority is committed to protect our industry, including those in Wales, from carbon leakage as our economy decarbonises which is why we give free allocations to businesses at risk of carbon leakage under the UK ETS. We have guaranteed free allocations at current levels until 2026 and are now consulting on changes to better target free allocations at sectors most at risk of carbon leakage from 2026 whilst maintaining their decarbonisation incentive. A Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will also be introduced by 2027 and will work cohesively with the UK ETS to mitigate the risk of carbon leakage.

Energy Intensive Industries: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Energy intensive industries given £12 million boost to cut emissions and costs, published on 13 February 2023, how much of that £12 million went to businesses in Northern Ireland.

Amanda Solloway: The Department announced £12 million funding awarded through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). The IETF provides grant funding to existing industrial sites, helping industry to invest in more efficient technologies and reduce emissions by bringing down the costs and risks associated with investing in decarbonisation technologies. Of the £12 million announced in the press release, £1.5m of this went to businesses in Northern Ireland. The Spring 2024 window of Phase 3 of the IETF is currently open to applications and closes on 19th April. Information on competition winners of the IETF can be found here.

Wind Power: Finance

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether funding will be made available through the Green Industries Growth Accelerator for the manufacture of wind turbine jackets.

Andrew Bowie: Government has committed £1.1 billion to the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support the expansion of domestic green manufacturing capacity and strengthen clean energy supply chains. At Spring Budget, government announced provisional allocations of up to £390 million for offshore wind and networks, up to £390 million for carbon capture, utilisation and storage and hydrogen and up to £300m to support domestic production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for nuclear fuel.Government is conducting engagement with industry on the design of the Accelerator and more detail on eligibility and how to apply for funding will be shared in due course.

National Grid: Infrastructure

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with the National Grid on improving the timetable for connecting infrastructure projects to the national grid.

Graham Stuart: The Government is working with Ofgem, the Electricity System Operator and network companies to accelerate network connections. Since the Connections Action Plan[1] was published in November 2023, over 40GW of projects have been offered earlier grid connection dates, accelerating up to £40bn of investment. In the coming months we will decide on further action to ensure only viable projects can retain their connection agreements. In addition, from next January a new process will prevent projects being offered a specific connection date until they demonstrate sufficient progress towards connecting to the grid. [1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/655dd873d03a8d001207fe56/connections-action-plan.pdf

Carbon Emissions

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her Department’s policies of the recommendations in the report entitled Fixing the Carbon Leak published by the Commission for Carbon Competitiveness in July 2023.

Graham Stuart: The Government welcomed and noted the Commission’s report, which made recommendations on a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS). In December 2023, the Government announced that it would implement a CBAM by 2027 and consult further on this in 2024. In December 2023, the UK ETS Authority launched consultations on the approach to both free allocation and market policy, seeking views on how the Authority can best target support to industrial sectors at risk of carbon leakage and on market stability mechanisms, including the design of the cost containment mechanism.

Wind Power

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she is taking steps to ensure that developers of wind farms supply a single point of contact for the public.

Graham Stuart: All applications for development consent are published on the Planning Inspectorates web-site and are publicly available. The information includes details of the applicant and a link to their web-site which also explains the purpose of the project and the applicant's contact details.

Solar Power: South Holland and the Deepings

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of homes that have solar panels installed in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Andrew Bowie: Solar photovoltaics deployment statistics are available on the gov.uk website including data on domestic installations by constituency. As of December 2023, South Holland and The Deepings had 3,573 domestic installations totalling 14.5MW. Over 1.2 million homes now have solar PV installed across the UK with a total of 191,524 installations coming online in 2023, the second highest number in any year and only outstripped by 2011.

Northern Ireland Office

Health Services and Social Services: Pay

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland administration on pay for (a) health and social care and (b) NHS workers.

Mr Steve Baker: In the months leading up to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland engaged with the Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the issue of pay awards for healthcare workers in Northern Ireland. In addition to these meetings, he met with trade union representatives on this important matter.  Healthcare is a devolved matter and pay awards are ultimately a matter for the Department of Health. The UK Government has provided the Executive with a £3.3 billion financial package to stabilise Northern Ireland’s finances. This package includes £584m to provide public sector pay awards for 2023-24. It will be up to the Executive to decide on the level of pay awards and to balance these costs against other priorities.

Northern Ireland Office: Domestic Visits

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Domestic Visits

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Attorney General, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within her Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.

Robert Courts: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.

Department for Transport

Blue Badge Scheme

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16450, how many of the 1.14 million blue badges issued between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 were the result of new applications.

Guy Opperman: Data on the number of blue badges issued as a result of new applications over that time period is not available.

Vehicle Number Plates: Fraud

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle licence plate cloning.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Transport understands how distressing this criminal activity can be for innocent motorists. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is currently working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime. The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied. The DVLA assist the police and Trading Standards in their enforcement against number plate suppliers who trade illegally. When notified, the DVLA will investigate and pass on intelligence to the police who are responsible for investigating this criminal matter.

Aviation: Training

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on implementing his Department's policy document entitled Options for addressing the cost of pilot training, published on 31 May 2023.

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to launch a support scheme for pilot training.

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to introduce a Government-backed loan for pilot training.

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support people who are training to be pilots.

Anthony Browne: The Government is aware that the high cost of training to become a commercial airline pilot can be a significant barrier to many young people seeking to pursue a career as a pilot. The Generation Aviation programme sees Government work with industry and outreach partners to raise the profile of aviation careers and remove barriers to access so the sector can build a workforce fit for the future. As part of this, the Department commissioned independent research to help both Government and industry understand options for addressing the high cost of pilot training in the UK. The research, published in May 2023, found that there is a possibility that the future supply of commercial pilots will not meet demand in the UK. It made recommendations about alternative funding approaches and about addressing other costs for new pilots.Since publication, the DfT has worked closely with industry to consider next steps. Airlines have a crucial role to play in reducing the financial barriers to becoming a pilot and we applaud the airline carriers who have recently launched funding options/sponsored pathways and cadetships. Employers in the sector have already developed a First Officer Apprenticeship (FOA) standard to support the industry to develop the skills it needs and to help it widen access to the profession. The Department for Transport and Department for Education (DfE) are working with the sector to ensure that suitable training provision is available and to support the sector to make use of the apprenticeship. My department plans to host an industry event to discuss this in more detail next week.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Music Venues: Finance

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to provide urgent support to grassroots music venues at risk of closure in the context of increased costs.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with representatives of the live music industry on introducing a ticket levy on large scale music arenas to support grassroots live music.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector and developing homegrown talent.That is why we are supporting live music through a range of measures. This includes an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) successful Supporting Grassroots Music fund, as set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision in June. This expands and extends ACE’s existing grassroots fund, and takes our total investment in grassroots music through the fund to almost £15 million since 2019. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young and emerging artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.This is in addition to other Government support including the Culture Recovery Fund, which provided over £200m of support for live music venues, the £800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, alongside the cross-sector grants, loans, and reduction of VAT on tickets to 5%. Further, over £3 million was provided during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.Music venues are also eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief, with a 75% relief up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. This relief was extended for a further year during the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. DCMS and DLUHC are also working closely with the sector to revise planning guidelines to ensure that new developments engage with existing music venues before being built.Industry-led discussions are ongoing regarding increased support for grassroots music venues from larger events and venues, and DCMS actively supports these sector-led initiatives. Ministers and officials continue to engage with industry to understand the challenges and review opportunities to strengthen the financial resilience of the grassroots music sector.

Music Venues: Finance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of an emergency fund for grassroots music venues to prevent closures.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to require large music venues and arenas to commit to a ticket levy to help fund grassroots music venues.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector and developing homegrown talent.That is why we are supporting live music through a range of measures. This includes an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) successful Supporting Grassroots Music fund, as set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision in June. This expands and extends ACE’s existing grassroots fund, and takes our total investment in grassroots music through the fund to almost £15 million since 2019. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young and emerging artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.This is in addition to other Government support including the Culture Recovery Fund, which provided over £200m of support for live music venues, the £800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, alongside the cross-sector grants, loans, and reduction of VAT on tickets to 5%. Further, over £3 million was provided during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.Music venues are also eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief, with a 75% relief up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. This relief was extended for a further year during the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. DCMS and DLUHC are also working closely with the sector to revise planning guidelines to ensure that new developments engage with existing music venues before being built.Industry-led discussions are ongoing regarding increased support for grassroots music venues from larger events and venues, and DCMS actively supports these sector-led initiatives. Whilst we have no current plans to mandate a ticket levy, Ministers and officials continue to engage with industry to understand the challenges and review opportunities to strengthen the financial resilience of the grassroots music sector.

Television: Broadcasting Programmes

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to protect television production in the UK.

Julia Lopez: The Government has set out a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and add another 1 million jobs by 2030. That includes supporting the growth of television and film production.Since 2010, the Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, including expanded relief for film and high-end television. Our screen sector tax relief alone is estimated to be worth more than £13 billion in GVA to the UK economy. The Government’s support for the independent television production sector continues to be underpinned by the hugely successful terms of trade regime. The Media Bill, currently before Parliament, therefore protects and updates the regime, as well as public service broadcasters’ independent production quotas, to reflect changes in technology and the way viewers are watching content.We have also taken a number of additional steps to ensure that British film and television companies are able to invest in production, expand their businesses and offer opportunities for cast and crew across the UK. This is why in the Spring Budget we have announced a number of generous tax reliefs for the sector, including a 40% relief on business rates for eligible studio spaces in England until 2034 and a 5% increase in tax relief for visual effects costs, which will not be subject to the 80% cap in the High End TV Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit. This will incentivise high-end television productions to remain in the UK for both filming and their visual effects. The Government will continue our wider support for the sector by investing in studio infrastructure, supporting innovation, and promoting independent content through the UK Global Screen Fund.

Gambling: Ombudsman

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on establishing an ombudsman for the gambling sector since publication of the Gambling Review in April 2023.

Stuart Andrew: We are working at pace with industry and all stakeholders in the sector, including the Ombudsman Association, to ensure customers have access to an ombudsman that is fully operationally independent in line with Ombudsman Association standards, and is fully credible in the eyes of customers. As set out in the white paper, it is important that the body adjudicates fairly and transparently all complaints regarding social responsibility or gambling harm issues where an operator is not able to resolve these.We remain clear that if this approach does not deliver as we expect, or shortcomings emerge regarding the ombudsman’s remit, powers or relationship with industry, the government will actively explore the full range of options to legislate to create a statutory ombudsman.

Streaming

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to ensure that Ofcom's review of video-on-demand services' (a) age ratings and (b) other audience protection measures, as required by section 32 of the draft Media Bill, is sufficiently thorough.

Julia Lopez: The Media Bill will give Ofcom an enhanced ongoing duty to assess all video-on-demand providers’ audience protection measures – such as age ratings, content warning, and parental controls – to ensure that the systems put in place are effective and fit for purpose, as they have done with broadcast television.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Defamation

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions Ministers in his Department have informed the Law Officers that they are the defendants in a libel action in (a) their personal capacity, (b) their official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.

Mr Alister Jack: As per paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code, it is not possible to disclose whether Law Officers have or have not provided advice on such matters. Paragraph 2.13 states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”.

Scotland Office: Domestic Visits

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.

Mr Alister Jack: The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.